Former Etna clerk to begin jail term

BANGOR – Maine’s highest court has upheld a Penobscot County jury’s conviction of a former Etna town clerk for theft, saying there was sufficient evidence presented at trial to support the guilty verdicts.

Janice Parsons, 49, has been free on bail pending the outcome of the appeal to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court. With Tuesday’s decision, Parsons should be reporting to Penobscot County Jail within a few days to begin serving a nine-month jail sentence, according to Penobscot County Deputy District Attorney Michael Roberts.

Parsons was convicted in March 2000 on two counts of felony theft for stealing an estimated $36,000 from the town of Etna while she was the town clerk from 1996 to 1998. She was acquitted of arson, which was the most serious charge levied against her.

The state alleged that Parsons stole the money and then set fire to the town hall, destroying some of the town records in order to cover her crimes.

She was sentenced last summer to five years in prison with all but nine months suspended and four years’ probation. She also was ordered to reimburse the town up to $40,000, a figure that includes a portion of the town’s cost of reconstructing its financial records.

Parsons was allowed to remain free on bail even after her sentencing until the court decided the appeal filed by her Bangor attorney, Glen Porter.

In a unanimous decision released Tuesday and written by Justice Donald Alexander, the court found “the evidence was sufficient to support the jury’s finding.”

Parsons had argued that statements made by the state’s experts – a senior auditor from the state’s Audits Municipal Bureau, a fraud examiner with the Attorney General’s Office and a self-employed fraud examiner and auditing consultant – were inconsistent, that their testimony was not credible and was unreliable. Her attorney argued that no jury could rationally rely on their testimony.

Though the experts admitted they could not determine the exact amount of money missing or the precise source of the missing revenue, they testified they were confident as to the accuracy of the estimated amounts.

One expert testified that the town was missing about $36,000 in 1996 and 1997. Another expert testified that the town’s cash deposits decreased dramatically in 1996 and 1997 and then normalized in 1998 after Parsons left her job. That expert further testified that the town’s deposit records indicated unidentified deficiencies of between $22,000 and $40,000 in 1996 and between $14,000 and $30,000 in 1997. The third expert testified that the town’s excise tax revenues decreased by 22 percent in 1996 and 1997 and that about $16,000 in automobile registrations were not reflected in the town’s bank accounts in 1997.

“Based on the experts’ testimony, the jury could reasonably conclude that the amount of money taken exceeded $10,000 each year,” Alexander wrote.

Parsons also argued that the evidence at trial was insufficient to support the verdicts because the state provided no direct evidence that she had “exclusive possession” of the funds.

The court noted however that Parsons admitted she handled all of the money coming into the town, provided receipts for money paid to the town, put the funds in the safe, brought the money to the bank and received the town’s bank statements.

“This evidence establishes that Parsons was or had been at one time in actual physical possession and hence exclusive possession of the missing funds,” the justice wrote.

Contacted on Tuesday afternoon, Porter did not seem surprised by the court’s decision. He said he had informed Parsons of the decision.

“I suspect she was hopeful that the law court would give her the opportunity for a new trial with a new jury and without the arson charge in the picture and put the state to the test on the theft charges,” Porter said.

The court’s decision ends the appeal process for Parsons. He said the law court would send a copy of its decision to the Penobscot Superior Court where it will be docketed.

“After it is docketed she has three business days to report to the Penobscot County Jail,” he said.

Deputy District Attorney Roberts guessed Parsons would begin serving her sentence by the end of the week or early next week.