One of the cases that inspired major changes in state reporting policy, former state employee Lonna Carroll receives five years for her theft of nearly $1.8 million in public funds.
Carroll was dealt 13 years in the state penitentiary with six years suspended and credit for nearly a year already served. Further, she will be required to pay nearly $1.8 million in restitution to the DHS. Those sentences of aggravated grand theft will be served concurrently.
The Carrol case highlighted many challenges for South Dakota to tackle. Questions like how to best pick a jury in rural settings like Hughes County, the role of state employees in fraud cases, and the place for lawmakers and the state attorney general to step in and regulate all orbited the case.
At the end of the day, Carroll’s sentencing represents the answer to those questions, after a jury found her guilty of the alleged fraud from the state’s Child Protective Services.
Alongside that decision, the latest legislative session also codified new policy mandating reporting for state employees, proposed by Attorney General and Congressional candidate Marty Jackley. With Tuesday marking the start of July, that law is now in full effect.
The attorney general, who prosecuted the case in Pierre, said “this jury conviction and sentence confirm that public trust is not for sale.”
While this case will be remembered as a catalyst for change in state government reporting protocol, it is not the lone fraud case involving state employees, as others have recently pleaded out or are awaiting courtroom motions. However, this is by far the largest-scale theft of taxpayer resources in recent state memory.