By Staff
Former hospital employee back after two months
By CLAUD HODGES
Newsroom Manager
A former Beaufort County Hospital employee facing embezzlement charges will be in court today for a possible conclusion of her case.
The case was continued on June 10 until today.
Jeanne Williams Jones, 63, of Elwood Drive, Raleigh, was arrested April 16 by the Washington Police Department. The warrant charges her on one count of felony embezzlement in excess of $100,000.
Her case will be called in the 9 a.m. session of Beaufort County Superior Court, which meets in room 218 in the courthouse in Washington.
Jones was indicted April 14 by a Beaufort County grand jury for embezzling more than $100,000 from the Beaufort County Hospital Foundation during the period from August 2000 to February 2006.
She was a hospital employee assigned during that period to the foundation, which is the fundraising arm of the hospital.
The offense against Jones is classified as a Class C felony. A minimum prison sentence for this offense for a person with no criminal history is five years, two months, and a maximum sentence is seven years, nine months.
According to Tom Anglim, chief assistant district attorney for the 2nd Prosecutorial District who is handling the case for the State of North Carolina, Jones has no criminal history.
Jones’ attorney is Wayland J. Sermons Jr. of Washington.
Judge Alma Hinton will hear the case.
According to North Carolina law, a plea offer must be made to Jones by the district attorney’s office.
According to Sermons, he and the district attorney’s office have been working diligently on a resolution in Jones’ case.
Sermons said that Jones has been cooperative with the district attorney’s office, the police department and the hospital.
Jones’ original date of employment at the hospital was Dec. 16, 1998, according to Beaufort County Hospital spokeswoman Pam Shadle.
Jones was an administrative assistant whose work was split in half between two departments, the hospital’s Development Department and Staff Services Department, Shadle said.
Jones was suspended by the hospital without pay on Nov. 19, 2007, Shadle said.
Jones tendered her letter of resignation through Sermons to the hospital on Nov. 20, 2007, and the letter was dated Nov. 19, 2007, Shadle said.
The indictment handed down by the grand jury states that Jones “unlawfully, willfully and feloniously did embezzle and fraudulently and knowingly misapply and convert to her own use, and with the intent to embezzle and fraudulently and knowingly misapply and convert to her own use, take and make away with and secrete U.S. Currency belonging to the Beaufort County Hospital Foundation, Incorporated.”