Fain gets 2 years in prison for theft from Building Inspection office
The former municipal employee is ordered to pay $110,700 restitution.
The former municipal employee is ordered to pay $110,700 restitution.
A former administrative assistant in the Rome-Floyd County Building Inspection office, Deanna Elizabeth Fain, was sentenced to two years in prison plus 18 years of probation for theft by conversion followed consecutively by 20 years of probation for theft by taking by Floyd Superior Court Judge Bryant Durham on Friday. She was also ordered to make $110,700 restitution to the city of Rome.
Fain was formally accused of taking more than $24,999.99 from the inspection office between Jan. 1, 2012, and Feb. 28, 2014, according to an indictment. Listing the value of the theft at more than $24,999.99 on the indictments triggered the potential sentencing range of 2-20 years.
During arguments prior to sentencing, Assistant District Attorney Natalee Staats explained Rome police and GBI investigators only went back two years during their investigation and decided the actual amount of money taken from the Building Inspection office was closer to $110,700. “I don’t know what would have happened if they had gone back further,” Staats said. “This is a significant amount of money and some people may have lost their jobs.”
Fain resigned in March 2014 and was arrested a year later in April 2015.
Defense counsel Rex Abernathy said Fain was trying to raise three children with a husband who was in and out of their lives. “She was on her own and needed money,” Abernathy said. “She started something she couldn’t end.”
Staats explained the investigation revealed a number of ways that Fain took funds, including actually writing permits as “no fee” permits and pocketing cash payments.
Fain read a brief statement to Durham in which she accepted responsibility for her action. “I am so truly sorry for the things I have done,” Fain said. “My main focus right now is to get my life back on track. This is no one’s fault but my own.”
Abernathy argued the indictments against Fain alleged the same victim, the same amount of money and the same time frame and argued the counts of theft by conversion and theft by taking should be merged for sentencing.
“I’m going to sentence on both counts. The Court of Appeals can tell me if I’m wrong,” Durham said.