Former Ripley Housing Authority Director Sentenced for Embezzlement
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On Thursday, the former Executive Director of the Ripley Housing Authority was sentenced. David Royce Ford, 35, of Ripley, pleaded guilty in January to federal charges of embezzlement, money laundering and tax evasion. Chief Judge Jon P. McCalla sentenced Ford to 24 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. Ford was also ordered to pay $43,990 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service and $158,794.81 to the Ripley Housing Authority. Ford began working for the Ripley Housing Authority as Executive Director on January 4, 2009. In his capacity as Executive Director, Ford made unauthorized purchases and withdrawals from the checking account of the Ripley Housing Authority for his personal use, including two cashier‘s check payments on February 26, 2010 to Abernathy‘s Motorcycle Sales and North Star in the amounts of $11,500 and $7,927 respectively. Ford also used an unauthorized cashier‘s check drawn on the housing authority‘s account to purchase a 2009 Ford F150 pickup truck for $33,800 on February 5, 2010. The total loss to the housing authority is approximately $216,000. Additionally, Ford failed to report to the Internal Revenue Service approximately $50,000 in additional taxable income for calendar year 2009 that he received as a result of the embezzlement, resulting in a tax loss of approximately $10,490 for that year.
