OWEN COUNTY, Ind. -- Angie Lawson, former Owen County auditor and county council member, will spend the holidays in federal prison.
Lawson was convicted of embezzling more than $300,000 using county credit cards and other methods.
She was sentenced to twenty months in federal prison and will be serving her time at the Federal Medical Center’s minimum security camp for female inmates in Lexington, Kentucky.
Lawson arrived at the facility on December 10, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, and is expected to be released in May 2017. Lawson had faced up to 10 years in prison.
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Lawson served as the elected auditor of Owen County from 2005 through 2012 and as chief deputy auditor from Jan. 2013 to Aug. 14, 2014.
She used county credit cards to pay personal expenses that included food, alcohol, gift cards, toys, jewelry and vacations.
Lawson’s purchases were seized as part of the investigation, but will not be returned to Owen County until late spring or early summer, according to Sgt. Curt Durnil of Indiana State Police.
As part of her sentence, Lawson was ordered to pay $346,157 in restitution.
The Indiana Attorney General’s office also filed suit against Lawson demanding she repay taxpayer funds, as well as nearly $100,000 in investigative costs racked up by state auditors.
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