YOUR AD HERE »

Embezzler gets eight-year term

Tim Mutrie

Anne Liv Slemons, the temp worker who embezzled some $110,000from the Aspen-based Cornerstone Private Capital, LLC, was sentencedto eight years in prison in 9th Judicial District Court Mondayafternoon.Slemons, 22, pleaded guilty to one count of felony theft and twocounts of felony forgery on Jan. 4. She carried out a check fraudscheme over a monthlong period in late 1997, along with her boyfriend,Michael Andrew McCarty.Judge J.E. DeVilbiss granted Slemons credit for 430 days of presentenceconfinement. She and McCarty were arrested by U.S. customs agentsin Sweetgrass, Mont. on Jan. 6, 1998 when they tried to crossinto Canada. Slemons failed to produce identification for authoritiesand in a search of the couple’s 1998 Toyota 4Runner, purchasedwith unauthorized Cornerstone funds, more than $40,000 in cashwas discovered. Slemons and McCarty then confessed the details of their schemeto customs agents and were placed under arrest for interstatetransportation of stolen merchandise and money. Slemons has remainedin custody since then, primarily in the Pitkin County Jail.Judge DeVilbiss handed down a sentence that was recommended byprobation officer Kyle Miller and endorsed by Assistant DistrictAttorney Lawson Wills – eight years for the theft count and sixyears for both forgery counts. The sentences will run concurrently.”I can see that your life has not been a walk in the park,” DeVilbisssaid prior to sentencing, in reference to Slemons’ abusive childhood.”But I don’t think that entitles you to a free pass.”A teary-eyed Slemons was apologetic during her presentence statement.”I am deeply ashamed by what I’ve done,” she said. “I can’t honestlysay how sorry I am … but I can tell you that before this, Ididn’t care who I hurt or how I hurt them. Now that has changed.””Ms. Slemons is a very dangerous person, judge,” Wills said priorto sentencing. “She will deceive, manipulate and take from otherswithout regard for them.”Slemons’ attorney, public defender James Conway, pointed out thathis client cooperated with authorities throughout the investigation,recovered monies for restitution, and suffered from emotionalproblems. He asked the court for leniency in its sentence.”Obviously, there’s something wrong with Ms. Slemons,” he said.”Someone in their right mind, who’s on probation in California,would not have done this.”Slemons was serving probation ordered in California for two felonyconvictions at the time she embezzled from Cornerstone, whichdisqualified her for a probationary sentence.McCarty, Slemons’ partner in crime, was sentenced in October 1998to serve three years in prison.