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Embezzling former employee gets five years’ probation, $124,000 restitution order
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Lori Lamb, former office manager at Morris Drain Service Inc., awaits sentencing for theft from that company Tuesday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court. Judge Lou A. D’Apolito put her on probation for five years and ordered her to make $124,000 in restitution.
YOUNGSTOWN
A 51-year-old Boardman woman who pleaded guilty to stealing a six-figure sum from her employer has been sentenced to five years of probation and to make $124,000 in restitution.
Lori Lamb stole the money from Morris Drain Service Inc. between January 2008 and February 2011.
Judge Lou A. D’Apolito of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court imposed the sentence Tuesday on Lamb, of Oakridge Drive, the company’s former office manager, and warned her that he’ll put her prison if she violates the terms of her probation.
Lamb delivered to the victims a $7,000 restitution check at her sentencing. The remainder of the restitution will consist of $50,000 of a life-insurance policy turned over to the company; $5,000 during her probation; and $62,000 to be paid beginning in February 2018 under a promissory note, said Jeffrey Davis, an assistant county prosecutor.
“At least to some extent, the thought processes that led her to commit this offense were affected by her drug addiction,” said Lamb’s lawyer, J. Gerald Ingram, who added she completed drug-abuse treatment last year and that she has no prior criminal record.
“I betrayed the trust of my employer and disgraced my family,” Lamb said, adding that she took the money to ease her financial hardship from her family’s medical bills and her drug addiction.
“I truly am broken inside, and I am working toward bringing myself to be the respected person I once was,” Lamb told the judge, adding that she attempted suicide twice because of her feelings of guilt and remorse.
The Morris family trusted Lamb to protect their hard-earned money, Judge D’Apolito said. “They didn’t deserve for you to do this to them,” Judge D’Apolito said. “There is no excuse for what you did.”
A grand jury indicted Lamb on the third-degree felony-theft charge in July 2011, and she pleaded guilty to it last November.
Lamb had quit her job with the Simon Road drain service in February 2011.
One of the business owners, Ron Morris, said the theft totaled at least $175,000 over seven to eight years and that he feared the business might fail due to the financial loss.
“We were working nights, weekends, holidays, kids’ birthdays. We were never able to catch up with the amount of money that was being stolen,” Morris said after court.
“We couldn’t even afford maintenance on our trucks. We were driving our trucks with bald front tires,” he added.
His advice to other business owners: “Be really careful with who handles your money. Be sure exactly where everything’s going.”