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Ex-court clerk gets four months in jail Pleaded guilty to embezzlement By CHRIS BRISTOL A former Gold Hill Justice Court clerk was sentenced to four months in jail Monday for embezzling more than $41,000 in traffic tickets and fines. Tracy Inlow, 32, also was placed on five years of supervised probation and ordered to pay full restitution. In addition, Jackson County Judge Daniel Harris ordered her to perform 40 hours of community service. The conviction was Inlow's second for stealing public funds, and the scandal resulted in tighter accounting controls at the court. Authorities accused Inlow of theft last year after an audit revealed about $32,000 was missing since she was hired full time in February 1996. She resigned in November 1997 when confronted with initial evidence of discrepancies in court receipts and deposits. As a Justice Court clerk, Inlow was responsible for recording payments and making bank deposits. The court serves the northern part of the county, including White City, and handles traffic tickets, weighmaster citations and Oregon fish and game violations. Inlow pleaded guilty in May to one count each of aggravated first-degree theft and official misconduct. In exchange, prosecutors dropped four lesser counts of first-degree theft. A final restitution figure of $41,137 was based on a more thorough audit that included costs associated with the audit, according to Deputy District Attorney Karen Loomis. In court Monday, defense attorney Carl Caplan said his client suffers from mental problems and that her transgression was a nonviolent, victimless crime. A mental health evaluation cited no evidence of a major disorder, finding instead that Inlow has some depression stemming from her legal problems. No explanation was given as to why she stole the money. Loomis said police reports indicated Inlow deposited some of the money into her own checking account to help pay her mother's bills. Normally, a first-time offender would get 20 days in jail for felony theft. However, a pre-sentence investigation discovered that Inlow had an earlier conviction under a different name. According to Loomis, Inlow pleaded guilty in 1992 to criminal possession of a forged instrument for forging nine checks totaling $568.45 as secretary of a Gold Hill firemen's association. She got 18 months' probation. With assistance from county auditors, the Justice Court has instituted more than a dozen accounting controls to improve the way money is handled and prevent the temptation to steal. Deposits are made daily, receipts are recorded sequentially and a new filing system provides more checks and balances. Also, one clerk now handles cash while another records payments. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA