Man sentenced in A-B school embezzlement

The male half of a husband-and-wife team that allegedly embezzled over $23,000 raised by members of the Arapaho-Butler Class of 2016 for their senior trip has been sentenced to 15 years in prison with all but six years suspended.
Neil McLemore, 42, pled guilty Jan. 12 to one count of embezzlement and was sentenced by Associate District Judge Jill Weedon.
She also fined him $250 and ordered that he pay $23,072.38 restitution over a five-year period. In addition, she directed him to pay $250 for his court-appointed attorney and $40 per month for two years as reimbursement to the District Attorney’s Office for prosecuting the case.
McLemore’s estranged wife, Jaime McLemore, 40, has a preliminary hearing scheduled Feb. 22 at 9:30 a.m. She too is charged with one count of embezzlement. She has been free on $10,000 bond since her arrest in August of 2017.
Preliminary hearings are held to determine if there is enough evidence for a suspect to stand trial.
Neil McLemore’s punishment was enhanced because of two prior felony convictions – possession of a controlled substance in 2013 and domestic abuse in the presence of a minor in 2016.
The McLemores were serving as class parents for the Arapaho-Butler Class of 2016 when the money was embezzled. They were charged in August of 2017 well after the class had graduated even though the Clinton Daily News had previously reported the possible embezzlement – without printing the names of the suspects – in May of 2016.
Todd Doyals of the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation said in affidavits of probable cause filed with the charges that deposits totaling $23,072.28 were made to the account between August of 2014 and November of 2015 but bank statements showed the Class of 2016 got only $9.32.
Students, with the help of other parents, got busy once the money was discovered missing and raised enough additional funds to take a senior class trip anyhow.
Although both McLemores were considered class parents, the affidavits said Neil was the only one listed on the bank account but he had a debit card for the account which his wife also used. Most of the missing money was raised by running the concession stands during Arapaho-Butler athletic events.
Replacement funds for the trip that the class was able to take were raised through a variety of means.
One of the methods involved an individual, Gene Addington,  donating an older pickup truck to be sold in a raffle. Various people donated their time and resources to repair and fix up the truck before it was given to the eventual winner of the raffle drawing held at Double K Auto Sales.
Many local businesses also came to the aid of the students by making necessary donations to help replace the stolen funds.