A former Carteret County, North Carolina animal shelter director was sentenced to prison on December 13 as part of a plea agreement. PoC first covered the story on March 18.
Candace Christopherson will spend between 60-84 months in prison after being convicted of embezzling over $100,000 from the Carteret County Humane Society and Animal Shelter. Between January 2014 and July 2016, Christopherson made personal purchases of more than $67,000 as well as more than $44,000 in cash that wasn’t deposited between January 2015 and September 2016.
After turning herself in on June 5, 2017, Christopherson was ordered to repay $111,849.88 in restitution. In an interview with WTCI12 News, District Attorney Scott Thomas stated
“Ms. Christopherson has received a substantial active prison sentence as a result of her theft of funds from the animal shelter. My office worked closely with Sheriff Buck’s office and the State Auditor’s office on this investigation and prosecution. It is unfortunate that these monies designated for the benefit of the Shelter were diverted for personal use.”
Thomas added the theft of money meant for the shelter was taken very seriously and their office sought an active prison sentence. Carteret County Sheriff Asa Buck thanked the State Auditor’s Office and Detective Derek Moore for their role in seeing a serious judgment was handed down.
Thank you so much Elisa for updating this story. It gives all reputable shelters and rescue workers a breath of fresh air, knowing this heartless fool will be spending time in jail. Let’s hope the shelter recoups all of the embezzled money. Let’s also hope that this shelter remains under strict supervision regarding its money. I still say the entire Board of Directors should be replaced, especially the silly cow who had no time to pay attention to expenditures; however, I digress.
Goes to prove that not all people working in animal rescue are good. Guess that is obvious. And if she wanted to embezzle money she could have chosen a wealthier business sector.