Ex-school district worker gets 5 years for embezzling $1.2M

CHARLESTON (AP) - The former chief financial officer for the school district of Berkeley County, South Carolina, has been sentenced to just more than 5 years in prison for embezzling more than $1.2 million.

News outlets report 62-year-old Brantley Thomas was sentenced Wednesday on federal charges including embezzlement.

Authorities have said Thomas repeatedly stole from the district over 16 years. They said he used several methods to steal the cash, including overpaying vendors and keeping the refund checks and taking funds from grants for special education students.

Thomas was fired in 2017 once officials learned federal authorities were investigating the missing funds.

Thomas still faces sentencing on state charges including embezzlement and forgery. The sentence in that case would be served after his sentence on the federal charges.