Former City of Lynchburg employee pleads guilty to stealing public money

A former city employee accused of stealing about $18,000 over the course of three years pleaded guilty Wednesday to embezzlement of public funds.

Tammie Wooldridge, 43, of Bedford County, worked for the SPARC House, a home for troubled teenage girls, as an ad-ministrative support professional from 2001 until 2008 when the theft was uncovered.

Jeff Bennett, deputy commonwealth’s attorney in Lynchburg, said an internal audit turned up questionable purchases made on a city credit card between January 2005 and June 2008.

Further investigation showed Wooldridge had used the credit card to pay for oil changes for personal vehicles, medica-tion, a car stereo, computer and a recliner.

“She admitted she had made unauthorized purchases,” when confronted by Lynchburg police in March, Bennett said.

He said Wooldridge’s supervisor told investigators she signed off on the purchases because she knew Wooldridge and didn’t believe she would steal from the city.

“The problem was that the policies and procedures in place were not being followed,” City Manager Kimball Payne said.

Wooldridge and her supervisor were terminated as a result of the investigation, Payne said.

He said Lynchburg’s credit card policies have been reaffirmed to city employees and that he believes they work when they’re followed.

Bennett said Wooldridge maintains that several of the charges in the $18,000 were legitimate purchases. However, he said, she agreed to the amount because prosecutors could have charged her with several counts of embezzlement based on the years over which she committed the theft.

Lynchburg Circuit Court Judge Leyburn Mosby sentenced her to three years in prison, with the entire term suspended. Mosby sentenced her to three years of probation and ordered her to pay restitution to the city.

Bennett told Mosby he believed it was in the city’s best interest that Wooldridge stay out of prison and continue to work to pay back the money.