Kenton, Delaware, a small town of less than 300 people, had the misfortune of having its municipal accounts completely drained by its treasurer.  But if that wasn't bad enough, the crooked treasurer found a way to fraudulently sell off the town's only major revenue producing asset-- a cell phone tower lease on municipal land.

Stephanie Mickle, whose husband Bob was the mayor of  Kenton and had a seat on the town council, was appointed town treasurer of Kenton by the town council in September 2008.  The position put her in control of Kenton's bank accounts, which contained a little over $113,000 when she took office. 

The treasurer was supposed to be bonded according to state law, but the law was not followed.  State officials had apparently reminded Kenton's town council of this requirement the year before, but there had been no follow through. 

It was an oversight that Kenton would soon regret.  If Kenton had applied for bonding, a background check would have been conducted which would have turned up items that would have likely caused Mickle to be rejected for the treasurer position.  Mickle, unbeknown to all council members except her husband, had a checkered past, including 44 felony charges, 12 felony convictions, 62 misdemeanor charges, and 3 misdemeanor convictions.  Mickle's convictions included unlawful use of credit cards, forgery, and identity theft.  Mickle still owed restitution payments on some cases, in fact.

Unfortunately for the citizens of Kenton, Mickle had not learned her lessons from her prior brushes with the law.  After taking office, she almost immediately began using municipal accounts to make personal purchases, issuing a debit card to herself on an old town account for an Activities Fund that was supposed to have been closed.  She made over 100 fraudulent personal purchases from municipal accounts in December 2008 alone. 

It wasn't long until she had almost completely drained the municipal accounts-- by December 2009, there was less than $3000 left in the town accounts. 

But Mickle still wanted more. 

A primary source of revenue into the Kenton accounts was a cell phone tower that stood on town land just behind the municipal park.  Kenton leased the land to Sprint, which paid Kenton $1600 a month for the privilege of allowing it to having its facility on the land and allowing its technicians access. 

Mickle, who had served on the town council in the past, knew that the town council had been approached in the past by outfits offering to pay the town a lump sum upfront for the revenue stream that flowed from the lease.  The town council had rejected such offers in the past.  Recalling those offers, Mickle had a bright idea-- she could sell the town's cell phone tower and get more money for herself.

Unfortunately, the town's charter did not authorize the treasurer to sell the cell phone tower.  But the town's charter did allow for the appointment of a town manager.  The position of town manager as outlined in the charter would authorize the office holder to sign over the cell tower.  And conveniently for Mickle, there was no town manager in Kenton-- the town council had never appointed one, and instead managed the town itself.  Mickle figured that if she could pass herself off as the town manager, she could sell the cell tower.

So Mickle doctored a copy of the minutes of a past town council meeting, adding a section showing her to have been appointed town manager. 

She then approached a company called Unison Site Management, a company that acquires cell phone tower rights in order to gain the revenue streams from leases. Apparently satisfied that Mickle was indeed town manager, Unison reached an agreement with Mickle and drafted an easement that gave it the right to lease the land with the Kenton cell tower and allow access to its lessees. 

Mickle signed the easement  on January 22nd, 2010, and Unison wired approximately $134,000 into an old town account that Mickle knew about.  Mickle transferred about half the money into Kenton's operating municipal accounts, and kept the other half of the funds in her illicit Activities Fund account-- money which she began to spend on herself.

Kenton's primary revenue stream, the $1600 per month that it had gotten from Sprint, now went to Unison.  Mickle began making quick work of the proceeds.

Of course, most thefts of this nature do not go undetected forever, and by 2010, a couple of town council members became aware of problems with the town's finances.  They took their concerns to the Delaware State Auditor in May, and the auditor began an investigation. 

Investigators discovered Mickle's crimes, and determined that Mickle had pocketed around $200,000 of Kenton's money.  In large part, she had mostly squandered the money on household items ($65,000), jewelry and electronics ($40,000), food ($26,000) and clothes ($20,000).  About $15,000 was spent on restitution payments on a prior conviction.

Mickle was arrested and charged in the case in September 2010.  Items which Mickle bought with her ill-gotten gains were seized and stored in a room in a local schoolhouse for a future auction which is planned which the town hopes will help it get a small portion of its money back.  Among the items are a "macabre gallery of life-sized Halloween figurines," according to a local news report.

Mickle, 43,  pled guilty in January, and was sentenced earlier this week to 8 years in prison and ordered to pay $200,000 in restitution.