The woman charged with embezzling over $52,000 from Ripley High School’s General Fund in 2008 formally entered into a plea agreement with the Jackson County Prosecuting Attorney’s office Monday afternoon in Jackson County Circuit Court. 

Robin L. Wise, 45, the former Financial Secretary at Ripley High, was arrested last year on one felony count of embezzlement for allegedly stealing the funds while working at the school. 

According to the complaint filed in Magistrate Court in March 2009 by Captain H.L. Faber of the Sheriff’s Department, in early July of 2008, school officials discovered that several debts owed by the high school had been allowed to go delinquent. Superintendant Blaine Hess phoned Wise, who was on vacation, on Friday, July 11, asking to meet with her to discuss the delinquency issues the following Monday, July 14.

That Monday, when then Ripley High School Principal Todd Lehew arrived at work, he discovered Wise’s one-sentence resignation letter in his desk drawer.

School officials contacted the accounting firm of Tetrick & Bartlett, PLLC, to perform an audit of the prior fiscal year’s finances. That audit found that a substantial sum, in excess of $52,000, had been embezzled from the school’s General Fund in just one year.

On November 13, 2008, the results of the audit were turned over to then-Prosecuting Attorney Shannon Baldwin, who tasked Faber with investigating the case.

After completing his investigation and reviewing the facts with Board of Education officials and the accounting firms auditor, Faber obtained an arrest warrant for Wise on the felony charge of embezzlement in March 2009 and arrested her on that count, she was arraigned in Magistrate Court and released on $20,000 bond.

In his original complaint, Faber states, “The audit performed by Tetrick & Bartlett revealed that the lion’s share of the embezzled funds was cash that had been collected during various events and fundraising efforts over the course of the year. These funds had been delivered to Robin Wise for reconciliation with various reports, for entry into the fund’s journal/ledger, for preparation of bank deposit tickets and, ultimately, for deposit into the fund checking account.

“Accountants discovered numerous instances in which all or some part of the cash portion of the funds that were collected was withheld from the deposit and the bank deposit tickets were prepared in such a way as to conceal the theft. The affiant [Faber] is advised that Robin Wise was, during this time, solely responsible for preparing and submitting these funds intact for deposit.”

In April 2009, Wise waived her right for a preliminary hearing and the case was bound over to Circuit Court to await indictment by a session of the Grand Jury.

On Monday, Wise appeared before Circuit Court Judge David W. Nibert to enter a plea agreement negotiated between her attorney, Morgan Hayes, and interim Prosecuting Attorney Roger Williams’ office. 

According to the agreement, Wise pleaded guilty to one count of embezzlement which carries a possible sentence of one to 10 years in the prison and agreed to pay financial restitution and for a forensic audit ($42,000, according to Judge Nibert), as well as being cooperative in further matters.

The agreement also states that Wise would be required to offer testimony in any further court proceedings, through Prosecuting Attorney Roger Williams stated he did not foresee any further criminal charges being brought forward as a result of the investigation into the embezzlement. 

Wise will end up owing the Jackson County Board of Education just under $95,000.

Wise, who worked at Ripley High School for over 10 years, will appear for sentencing at 9:15 a.m. Monday, April 5, following the completion of a pre-sentence investigation.