Sat, Oct 11 2008
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Published July 17, 2008 11:05 pm - Marble City School gets $1M back today By Donna Hales Phoenix Staff Writer
Marble City School officials and patrons of the school district in Sequoyah County start partying at 8:30 a.m. today over the delivery of $1 million. U.S. Attorney Sheldon Sperling is to arrive with the money which is reimbursement for the more than $979,000 former longtime Superintendent Larry Couch admitted to embezzling when he pleaded guilty on May 28, Sperling said. Refreshments and a good time are on tap, said Marble City board member Ramon Bolin. Bolin got on the board and started looking into school finances after he was denied school financial information that should have been open to the public. Bolin soon identified more than $100,000 Couch embezzled from the school building fund to purchase land in his name. He immediately alerted District Attorney Jerry Moore, chief prosecutor in Adair, Cherokee, Wagoner and Sequoyah counties. He also alerted the state Auditor and Inspector’s Office. The hunt was on. “I am pleased,” Bolin said Thursday. “I wanted the school to come out with the money and go forward. I want this all over with. Things are picking up in Marble City.” Sperling, too, expressed pleasure. “In a typical embezzlement case, the defendant has farted away the money at a casino or a horse track,” Sperling said. “It’s refreshing that about $1.1 million will be distributed, with all but about $100,000 going to the school.” Sperling said about $100,000 will go to the State Auditor and Inspector’s Office for the extensive audit of the school’s finances that showed where the school’s money went. Couch, superintendent at Marble City for 15 years, had his teaching and administrator’s certificate revoked before he pleaded guilty to embezzlement. He used school money to pay for vehicles, including a $49,000 van and a $40,000 dually pickup, tractor-mowers and other items. The school also paid for eight “ghost transactions” involving buses, auditors determined. Couch’s sentencing will take place after the completion of a pre-sentence report by the U.S. Probation Office, Sperling said. 
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