Former sheriff’s office manager admits embezzling $138,102

  (Stillwater, Okla.) — A 61-year-old Stillwater woman, who admitted embezzling $138,102 from the Payne County Sheriff’s Office while she was its office manager, has been given a six-year prison term followed by 20 years of probation during which she must make payments of $850 per month in restitution.

    Linda Gail Farley, who had paid upfront $19,162.81, was taken into custody at the close of her May 30 sentencing by Payne County Associate District Judge Michael Kulling, who approved the plea agreement with the prosecution on six counts of embezzlement and two counts of making false entries relating to expenditure of public funds.

    Farley’s restitution totaled $208,708, with $138,102 going to the Sheriff’s Office and the balance to the Payne County Clerk for audit costs.

    The judge told Farley in court, “You’ve made significant mistakes. I hope you can turn things around.”

    Payne County Assistant District Attorney Karen Dixon said she made her sentencing recommendation due to the embezzlement of public funds.

    Farley had been hired in 2009 by then Sheriff R.B. Hauf and terminated in 2001 by current Sheriff Joe Harper, who with Payne County Clerk Glenna Craig had become suspicious of her activities and sought a state audit that was expanded by District Attorney Laura Austin Thomas, authorities said.

    “On Nov. 15, 2021, Payne County Sheriff Joe Harper requested Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) assistance involving an invoice that had been altered by Linda Farley for payment by Payne County for work allegedly done on a sheriff’s office patrol vehicle by Bill Knight Ford,” that was actually done on a vehicle belonging to Farley’s daughter, according to an affidavit.

    The district attorney said in a news release, “This embezzlement was complex and brazen and committed by an employee trusted by the Sheriff’s Office. To ensure a meticulously successful prosecution, I brought a former employee out of retirement for this matter,” Karen Dixon as special prosecutor with specific expertise in embezzlement cases.

    Farley had been jailed on $100,000 bail on March 6 until she was released on a personal recognizance bond on April 16 after waiving her right to a preliminary hearing, court records show. At her sentencing last week, Farley waived her right to stay for 10 days in the Payne County Jail before being taken to prison.