News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Greg Brown, former Deschutes County Sheriff, will serve 33 months in a minimum security federal prison for embezzling more than $575,000 from the Deschutes County Sheriff's Office and the Sisters-Camp Sherman Rural Fire Protection District.
Brown was sentenced in federal court in Eugene on Tuesday, March 11. His sentence begins 45 days from that date. He will also face three years of post-prison supervision.
Brown paid restitution to both the county and the fire district. The fire district accepted $390,378.16 as restitution. Brown embezzled $171,189.34 from the sheriff's office.
Fire district board member Dave Elliott said that the board has not made any decisions on how the restored funds will be used. According to Elliott, the funds probably won't be tapped in this budget cycle, although the district could do so through a supplemental budget.
"There's a lot of projects coming up," Elliott said, noting that the district has purchased property to expand its facilities in downtown Sisters.
"That could be one use (of the restored funds)," Elliott said.
Brown's embezzlement at the fire district was significant and ongoing. He was the budget officer for the district and the board allowed him broad discretion to handle financial matters -- both because he was very good at it and because the board trusted him.
Board President Stephen Spear said after Brown's guilty plea that the board and district personnel trusted Brown completely for "who and what we all thought he stood for" as a public servant and police officer.
The revelation of Brown's crimes left those personnel with a deep sense of personal betrayal.
According to the U.S. Attorney, Brown admitted that he embezzled from four separate fire district bank accounts.
He deposited funds in Brown's Sabbatical Air account at Oregon Telco Credit Union and into several personal accounts.
Brown covered his tracks by writing checks to entities that would not appear suspicious to the RFPD Board, the U.S. Attorney noted. Sometimes, he falsified the payee.
Brown apologized for his actions during the sentencing hearing.
"It was a real short apology," Elliott said.
"He didn't make eye contact with any of the people who were there."
Elliott, for one, was unswayed.
"I just didn't take solace in his apology," Elliott said. "It was disingenuous as far as I'm concerned."
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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