Former Laurel Leader-Call employee Stephanie Thornton was among 47 indictments handed by a Jones County Grand Jury on Nov. 2.
According to Jones County Sheriff Alex Hodge, deputies served the indictment and Thornton was arrested on Nov. 10. She was released on a $10,000 bond on Nov. 12.
Thornton, the newspaper’s former business manager, was indicted for allegedly embezzling an unspecified amount of funds from the newspaper. She was employed as business manager from February 2007 to August of this year.
District Attorney Tony Buckley said once a person is indicted for a felony crime, by law, the next step is for the sheriff to serve that person with their indictment. The indictment summons them to appear before the Circuit Court to be arraigned.
“Also, by law I cannot disclose the name of the individual indicted until they have been served with their indictment.”
Hodge said his office is committed to serving indictments as they are handed down by the Grand Jury. He noted, however, that the Sheriff’s Department is playing a bit of catch-up.
The Sheriff’s Department has about 500 indictments that have not been served, some dating back as far as 2004.
“I’m not trying to make any excuses or condemn past administrations, but there is a stack of indictments that we are working to serve,” he said. “If the indictments are not serve, that means these people won’t go to trial. That’s unfair to the victims.”
Jones County Sheriff’s Deputies now have a two-fold task. “When they are out on patrol, each deputy has a stack of indictments along with them,” he said. “We were elected into this office, we made a commitment to serve the indictments to everyone, regardless of who they are.”
Buckley said the indictments are handed down by a Grand Jury which consists of 20 citizens, pulled from the electoral role. They typically serve for one year.
“There must be 15 present before a case can be presented for consideration of an indictment,” he explained. “To indict an individual for a felony crime, at least 12 members of the Grand Jury must vote yes for ‘True Bill.’
“By law, no prosecutor is allowed in the Grand Jury room while the Grand Jury is deliberating,” noted Buckley. “No recordings are made of Grand Jury deliberations and all matters must remain a secret for six months afterwards, according to law.”
So far this year, the Ellisville Grand Jury has met on three occasions and has indicted a total of 63 felony cases and refused to issue indictments in two cases where the jury denied indictments. The Laurel Grand Jury has met four times this year and has indicted 301 felony cases and refused to issue indictments in seven cases.
“In both Grand Juries the cases range from a multitude of different crimes,” said Buckley. “Rape, aggravated assault, and murder are the more serious.
“We have seen more unusual and rare cases like possession of whiskey. But in terms of an increase in crimes, I would say we are beginning to see much more embezzlements.”
Local News
Former LL-C employee indicted
Thornton accused of embezzlement
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