PORT ANGELES — Former Clallam County Sheriff’s Office employee Staci Allison was sentenced Thursday to three years in prison for stealing $8,644 from the evidence room while she worked for the county between 2003 and 2006.
Superior Court Judge Ken Williams sentenced Allison, 41, to concurrent terms of three years for first-degree theft and six months for money laundering.
Allison’s attorney, Ralph Anderson of Port Angeles, immediately filed a notice of appeal and said he will seek to have Allison’s sentence stayed while the appeal is heard.
An appeal is standard procedure, he said, though he added, “I was shocked she got three years.”
Allison, who was the department’s sole evidence technician, is a first-time offender and was more deserving of 90 days of community service and mental-health counseling, Anderson said.
Assistant State Attorney General Scott Marlow, who prosecuted the case, did not return a call for comment
Found guilty in October
An eight-man, four-woman jury found Allison guilty of the crimes Oct. 21, also determining she committed a major economic offense, which made her eligible for up to 10 years in prison rather than a maximum of six years.
“I think justice has been done,” Marlow said after the verdict.
The money Allison was found guilty of stealing has never been recovered.
It was a fraction of what was missing.
The Sheriff’s Office said $51,251 was actually gone from 129 evidence bags were found stuffed in a plastic tube in the evidence room in November 2006.
Prosecutors said they could prove that Allison stole $8,644 of that amount.
Investigators said the evidence room was disorganized when the thefts occurred.
Sheriff Bill Benedict said in an earlier interview the evidence room has been put in order, that it is overseen by a chief criminal deputy and two part-time employees manage the room now rather than one full-time person.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-417-3536 or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 and at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
