The former clerk of a rural Tallahatchie County church has been indicted for allegedly embezzling tens of thousands of dollars in church and cemetery funds.
According to records on file at the circuit clerk’s office in Charleston, Marilyn Diane Ross, 63, of 29 Murphreesboro Road, Scobey, is charged with “embezzling, fraudulently secreting, concealing or converting to her own use in excess of $56,604.53, the personal property of New Hope Presbyterian Church and Cemetery.”
Ross is alleged to have embezzled the funds between Jan. 1, 2010, and May 31, 2016, while, court records note, “she was an agent or servant” of the church and cemetery.
New Hope Presbyterian Church is located at 148 Mitchell Drive in the Scobey community.
In other recent court news:
• Aletha Scott, 32, of 525 County Road 117, Tillatoba, was indicted for depraved heart murder in the death of her reputed boyfriend, Lezelrick Poole, 29, of 425 Rosalind St., Charleston. The indictment charges that Scott struck Poole with her car during an early-morning April 2 encounter on Saint Charles Street in Charleston. He died on April 4 at a Memphis hospital.
• Named in identical nine-count indictments were Earl D. Morris II, 21, of 306 N. Market St., Charleston; Vinsa Taylor, 20, of 950 Oakland-Enid Road, Enid; and Sherrod Brown, 22, of 501 Murphy Road, Charleston.
The trio are charged with two counts of shooting into a vehicle, two counts of shooting into a dwelling, four counts of attempted aggravated assault and one count of accessory after the fact, in connection with a March 27 incident in a Charleston residential neighborhood.
• Aaron Shaw, 30, of 2480 Highway 35 S., Charleston, was indicted for fondling and statutory rape of a person between the ages of 14 and 16.
• John T. Dickson, 21, of 72 Dickson Dr., Tippo, pleaded guilty to one count of credit card fraud in the amount of $7,211.98. Another count of credit card fraud was remanded to the file.
In an Oct. 6 order, Circuit Judge Jimmy McClure, noting that Dickson had never been convicted of a felony, deemed it “in the best interest of the defendant and will serve the interest of justice for an order of non-adjudication to be entered in this matter.”
McClure withheld acceptance of Dickson’s guilty plea for three years, and at the end of that term, if he has met all court-ordered conditions, the case against Dickson will be dismissed.
McClure ordered Dickson to pay a fine of $1,000, restitution of $15,338.44 to the victim, court costs of $386 and a state Crime Victims’ Compensation Fund assessment of $100.
• Earl Thomas Pittman, 52, of 20 Dogwood St., Charleston, entered a negotiated plea of guilty to a charge of aggravated assault stemming from a Dec. 24, 2012, knifing case.
On Oct. 25, McClure sentenced Pittman to 17 years. He was ordered to serve two years, then given credit for two years already served while awaiting resolution of the case. Pittman also was placed on 15 years of probation — five years reporting and 10 years non-reporting — to run concurrent with any sentences previously imposed.
Pittman was ordered to pay court costs of $386, in addition to $100 to the crime victims’ fund.
McClure also ordered Pittman to continue to seek mental health treatment.
• Jarvis Jerell Edwards, 22, of 501 Rosalind St., Charleston, pleaded guilty to shooting into a vehicle in connection with a Jan. 26 incident.
McClure sentenced him on Oct. 25 to serve four years on probation — one reporting and three non-reporting — to run concurrent with any other sentence previously imposed.
The judge also ordered Edwards to complete his GED within the post-release supervision term and provide proof to the court clerk.
Edwards was ordered to pay a fine of $500, court costs of $386 and a crime victims’ fund assessment of $100.
