The exiled head of a nonprofit children’s center in San Angelo pleaded guilty Friday to stealing money from the group, which has been heavily subsidized by taxpayers.
Prosecutors had accused Debra Brown of taking $237,000 over a six-year period from the Children's Advocacy Center of Tom Green County, but Brown pleaded guilty to a single count of stealing $5,000, the San Angelo Standard-Times reports. Her former husband, Tom Green County Judge Mike Brown, told investigators that he did not notice any increase in the family finances during the time the crime occurred.
Mike Brown has not been accused of a crime.
Mrs. Brown is allowed to keep her 2007 Lexus under a divorce agreement, finalized in December. The story notes that Mr. Brown filed the papers for divorce in nearby Midland County but the decree was processed in Tom Green County.
Brown faces federal prison time. She has no sentencing date, but her presentence report is due within 35 days of her plea. The report allows the defendant to claim “circumstances affecting the defendant’s behavior.” Given the timing of the divorce, she could claim, for example, that her unraveling marriage drove her conduct.
We blogged in May on the refusal of the center to turn over records to the newspaper as it became known that Debra Brown may have stolen some money.
The children’s center refused to give up emails between Mrs. Brown, center directors, and its sponsors, stating in an appeal to the state Attorney General’s office that it was not a government body.
The AG ruled that it must give up a number of records and that it was a public body.
From the ruling, which may be one more that confirms that just holding nonprofit status does not necessarily mean freedom from transparency:
Mike Brown has not been accused of a crime.
Mrs. Brown is allowed to keep her 2007 Lexus under a divorce agreement, finalized in December. The story notes that Mr. Brown filed the papers for divorce in nearby Midland County but the decree was processed in Tom Green County.
Brown faces federal prison time. She has no sentencing date, but her presentence report is due within 35 days of her plea. The report allows the defendant to claim “circumstances affecting the defendant’s behavior.” Given the timing of the divorce, she could claim, for example, that her unraveling marriage drove her conduct.
We blogged in May on the refusal of the center to turn over records to the newspaper as it became known that Debra Brown may have stolen some money.
The children’s center refused to give up emails between Mrs. Brown, center directors, and its sponsors, stating in an appeal to the state Attorney General’s office that it was not a government body.
The AG ruled that it must give up a number of records and that it was a public body.
From the ruling, which may be one more that confirms that just holding nonprofit status does not necessarily mean freedom from transparency:
You state the center is an umbrella organization for four divisions, which are supported by a combination of public and private funding. You argue that the private grants and donations are maintained in the center's general fund, and the public funding is 'directly obligated to specific and definite service performance.'
Upon review of the center's contract and grant information, however, we find that although the center must meet certain performance measures to be eligible for the public funding, the public funding is used for the general support of the center. Accordingly, we conclude that the center is a governmental body for purposes of the Act.
Organizations like the children's center often try to dodge public records laws, even though they function as an extension of government. The Attorney General in 2009 ruled that a nonprofit offshoot of the Houston Airport System did not have to make its records public. But when Texas Watchdog appealed a denial of records from the Southwest Texas Municipal Gas Corporation last year, we prevailed in our argument that the operation was subject to public information laws.
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Contact Steve Miller at 832-303-9420 or stevemiller@texaswatchdog.org.
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Photo of money by flickr user 401K, used via a Creative Commons license.
Contact Steve Miller at 832-303-9420 or stevemiller@texaswatchdog.org.
Keep up with all the latest news from Texas Watchdog. Fan our page on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and Scribd, and fan us on YouTube. Join our network on de.licio.us, and put our RSS feeds in your newsreader. We're also on MySpace, Digg, FriendFeed, and tumblr.
Photo of money by flickr user 401K, used via a Creative Commons license.
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