A former Medical College of Georgia employee has been sentenced to a year in prison for her role in a scheme to steal tens of thousands of dollars from the state.
Christin Lynn Wright, a former administrative assistant at the Medical College, pleaded guilty on Feb. 13 to one count of racketeering and one count of theft by taking. She was sentenced to a year in prison, followed by four years probation and she has to pay $10,296.93 in restitution.
Wright was an hourly employee of the Medical College of Georgia and contracted to work as an administrative assistant at the Georgia State Prison in Reidsville. Her mother, Debbie Lynn Wright, was a salaried employee of the Georgia Department of Corrections, working as a senior clerk at the Georgia State Prison.
As senior clerk, Debbie Lynn Wright was also the designated timekeeper responsible for making manual entries into TimeWare for all hourly employees, said Lauren Kane, spokeswoman for the State Attorney General’s office.
Debbie Lynn Wright manually entered fraudulent data into TimeWare that resulted in Christin Lynn Wright being paid for overtime hours she did not work, Kane said in a statement. The stolen money was either directly deposited into various bank accounts of Christin Lynn Wright or paid by the state via checks cashed or deposited by Christin Lynn Wright, Kane said. Christin Lynn Wright would then return the money to Debbie Lynn Wright, or would pay bills on her behalf, and then would retain the balance for her own use, the spokeswoman said.
Debbie Lynn Wright pleaded guilty last November to one count of racketeering. She was sentenced to 10 years — to serve two in prison — and restitution of $27,500, Kane said.
Charges are pending against co-defendant Paul Sylvester Thornhill. Thornhill, who was a licensed practical nurse at the prison, was charged with one count of theft by taking for allegedly accepting overpayments from Debbie Lynn Wright and returning some of the money to her directly or by paying bills on her behalf, according to an indictment.
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