Former Candy Crown worker pleads guilty to payroll embezzlement

A former Candy Crown employee was sentenced to spend seven years of a 45-year sentence in prison after pleading guilty to embezzling more than $300,000 over a three-year period.

Katrina Lainette McCutchen, 44, also must pay $327,000 in restitution, the Macon Telegraph reported.

She was accused of 54 counts of theft and sentenced Monday in Bibb County Superior Court.

McCutchen started working for the Macon-based family business that makes and distributes candy sold nationwide in 2010 and she was in charge of payroll, the newspaper reported.

The prosecutor estimated $800,000 in losses, but a company audit could only prove $298,187 was illegally taken over weekly pay periods in 2012. That audit alone cost the company $30,000.

Charges are still pending against 40-year-old Robert Lorenzo Butler, McCutchen's husband, who also is charged in the case.

Read more of the story here.

About the Author

Ellen Eldridge

More of the AJC’s in-depth coverage of Atlanta’s plans for international event

‘The only thing that changes is how we deliver it’

As the AJC nears the end of its print chapter, some of the reporters, editors and photographers who make the AJC reflect on their “big break" moments.

Georgia sees one of the highest rises in life expectancy in the nation

Georgia's life expectancy rose more sharply than most U.S. states as the coronavirus pandemic receded, according to the latest CDC data, but still has ground to make up.

The Latest