White collar crimes like embezzlement are often called financial crimes, but in some cases, embezzlement may not involve the theft of actual money at all.While embezzlement frequently involves false invoicing, fraudulent expense reports, and pilfered deposits, there are many acts of embezzlement thatare related not to cash, but to misuse of time or property.
Embezzlement is defined by Oklahoma law as "the fraudulent appropriation of property of any person or legal entity, legally obtained, to any use or purposenot intended or authorized by its owner, or the secretion of the property with the fraudulent intent to appropriate it to such use or purpose" (21 O.S. � 1451). In other words, if a person is entrusted to money or property as a result of his or her employment, office, or appointment, andthe person uses that money or property in a manner other than its intended purpose, he or she is guilty of embezzlement.
In Rogers County, the former County Commissioner has found himself in legal hot water after being accused of misusing county equipment and employees forpersonal matters. Kurt Lannon Thacker, 45, of Inola, has been charged with two counts of embezzlement: one for embezzlement of county property andone for embezzlement of county equipment, materials, and labor.
Thacker is accused of using count equipment, including a bulldozer, a track hoe, and a portable propane tank to make improvements to his own farm, includingbuilding a pond on the property. He is also accused of using county construction equipment and a 13-person work crew for the reconstruction of partof the driveway leading to the Rogers County Cherokee Association headquarters, which is private property and not county property.
The former County Commissioner is not accused of pocketing cash or using county funds to make personal purchases. Rather, he is accused of borrowing countyequipment for personal use, and he is accused of embezzlement by misappropriating the use of county equipment, supplies, and labor in the reconstructionof the private drive.
In Oklahoma, embezzlement is prosecuted and penalized according to the value of the misappropriated property. Misappropriation of property valuedat less than $500 is a misdemeanor, but embezzlement of money or property valued at $500 or greater is a felony:
The defendant is accused of one count of embezzlement of $25,000 or greater and one count of embezzlement of $1,000 to less than $25,000. He facesup to 10 years in prison for the first count and up to 5 years in prison on the second count.
