Former deputy clerk gets 2-year sentence for stealing $300K

LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) - A northern Indiana county's former deputy clerk has been sentenced to two years in prison for stealing nearly $300,000 in county funds.

Fifty-one-year-old Kerri Smith Kinsey pleaded guilty in April to one count of theft. She was sentenced Thursday to two years in prison, two years of probation and ordered to pay nearly $300,000 in restitution.

Court documents show that Kinsey worked in the Tippecanoe County clerk's office from 2005 until June 2014, when the thefts were discovered.

The Journal and Courier reports (http://on.jconline.com/2uGk1mG ) that Circuit Judge Thomas Busch told the court that Kinsey's "job was to protect the money, and she didn't."

He says she stole from the county and also stole from the government by not paying taxes on the stolen money and by not doing her job.

___

Information from: Journal and Courier, http://www.jconline.com