County recoups stolen money

RALEIGH — State Auditor Stacey Pickering presented a check for $68,830 recovered from the bonding company of Telicha Nobles to the Smith County Board of Supervisors June 1 at the Smith County Courthouse in Raleigh.

Nobles pled guilty Dec. 22, 2008, to embezzling $63,432 from February 2006–August 2007 while working as a payroll and accounting clerk for the county. She was sentenced to 10 years with Mississippi Department of Corrections — three years house arrest and seven years supervised post release. She was ordered to pay $80,107 in restitution.

Pickering said, “As we continue to see embezzlement across our local governments in Mississippi, it is important that the government entities work together to protect the taxpayers of Mississippi.”