(Stillwater) — A Perkins man who admitted embezzling $2,145 from a 68-year-old male customer for whom he had agreed to perform construction work has been placed on three years’ probation with an order to make full restitution.
James Kelly Tyler Jr., 37, also must complete a cognitive behavioral training program, pay a $500 fine, contribute $250 to the victims’ compensation fund and perform 50 hours of community service by Sept. 6, court records show.
Tyler had avoided a jury trial by accepting a plea bargain. He pleaded guilty in December and was sentenced earlier this month by District Judge Donald Worthington.
Tyler had agreed to do some work for the customer, who advanced him $3,000, bought a $325 nail air gun for Tyler to use, and put on Tyler’s truck $300 worth of tires that the customer had taken off his own truck, former Payne County Sheriff’s Investigator Billy Bartram said.
In February 2007, Tyler began putting siding on three structures on the customer’s land located between Stillwater and Perkins, but Tyler never finished the job and took the nail gun and tires with him, Bartram said.
Six months later, the customer reported what had hapened to the Payne County Sheriff’s Ofifce, which concluded that Tyler had completed $1,480 worth of labor, but still owed $2,145 to the customer, Bartram said.
Two months after that, Tyler was arrested on the felony charge, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $5,000 fine, in addition to restitution, court records show.
