Ex-Official Gets 1-1/4 Years In Prison For Pud Theft

A former Grant County Public Utility District official who pleaded guilty to misappropriating nearly $237,000 from the PUD has been sentenced to one year and three months in prison.

U.S. District Judge Alan McDonald, who sentenced Tom Leedy on Friday, declined to grant the prosecution’s request for a sentence of up to two years and seven months. McDonald said Leedy’s mental and physical health may suffer in prison.

Leedy was also ordered to complete 150 hours of community service and three years supervised probation. He also must pay a fine equal to the amount of equity in a 36-foot yacht that he purchased with stolen funds.

Leedy pleaded guilty in October to federal charges of money laundering and counterfeiting.

Leedy, the PUD’s former deputy treasurer, admitted taking $236,925 by altering computer accounting programs to print checks to himself and blocking other internal controls.

Leedy has since repaid all the money, plus interest.