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by Dawn Slade
Former Mille Lacs Academy Director Paul L. Smith was sentenced in an Oklahoma Federal District Court on Thursday, Feb. 4 for embezzlement of funds from an employee pension plan and making false claims to investigators.
District Court Judge Cauthron sentenced Smith to 27 months in prison and $91,689 in restitution, with two years supervised release.
Smith was with the Mille Lacs Academy, a residential juvenile sex offender treatment program in Onamia, when he was convicted of four counts of embezzlement.
The embezzlement occurred when Smith worked for Marie Detty Youth and Family Services Center, Inc. in Lawton, Okla. from 2001 to 2004.
Smith joined Nexus, the nonprofit corporation that operates the Mille Lacs Academy, in 2007.
Nexus CEO David Hutchinson said the company did a thorough background investigation on Smith before hiring him. They found that the Marie Detty organization and the Oklahoma Health and Human Services Department had investigated the incidents and exonerated Smith in 2004.
Following his conviction in October 2009, Smith resigned from the Mille Lacs Academy.
Smith requested he be sent to El Reno Camp in Oklahoma, a federal prison that is not high security.
However, the Federal Bureau of Prisons will determine where Smith will serve his sentence,based on his criminal history score, the nature of the crime, etc.
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