Suzanne Darlen Bleakney, 50, of Ellwood City, the previous Ellwood City Arts, Crafts, Food, and Entertainment Festival treasurer accused of theft, has now pleaded guilty Friday to one count of theft.
Bleakney was facing charges of theft by unlawful taking and theft by failure to make required disposition of funds received after supposedly stealing upwards of $1650.00 from the festival bank account during her time working as the treasurer.
Lawrence County Common Pleas Judge J. Craig Cox sentenced her to 18 months of probation and 20 hours of community service. She is also ordered to repay the $1,650 of misappropriated funds to the festival.
As an added condition to her sentence, she is not permitted to attend the festival for the duration of her probation.
She was also accused of writing a bad check to her landlord in October.
Not being permitted to attend the festival is no loss, it has become an over priced flea market!
She also lied about coming to Elwood. She said she moved there due to damage from Hurricane Katrina. The fact is, we didn’t even have a loose shingle from the storm.