Annapolis Woman Who Embezzled $42K Receives Probation

ANNAPOLIS, MD — Checks totaling $42,650 were written by an office administrator for a political action committee to herself, according to a guilty plea announced Wednesday by the state prosecutor. Marta Gates-Jones, 57, of Annapolis, the former office manager of the Washington, Maryland, Delaware Service Station and Automotive Repair Association, pleaded guilty to felony theft from the PAC based in Bowie.

According to Emmet C. Davitt, state prosecutor, Gates-Jones stole $42,650 between January 27, 2012, and July 31, 2015, from the Service Station Dealers Political Committee PAC. Gates-Jones had access to a stamp with the signature of the PAC’s treasurer, and part of her job was to file the PAC’s campaign finance reports. Prosecutors say Gates-Jones used her access to write numerous checks payable to herself and cashing those checks for her personal use.

Gates-Jones pleaded guilty in the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County to felony theft. At sentencing, she was given probation before judgment and placed on two years supervised probation. The judge also ordered Gates-Jones to perform 200 hours of community service. Before her plea and sentencing, Gates-Jones had already paid back the entire theft amount of $42,650, prosecutors said.

The theft charges carried a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison and/or a $15,000 fine.

According to a statement of facts presented to the court, while serving as the campaign administrator for the organization, Gates-Jones wrote 66 unauthorized checks and cashed them, using the campaign funds for her personal expenses.

“Ms. Gates-Jones, as the campaign finance administrator, betrayed the trust that the Service Station Dealers Political Action Committee placed in her," Davitt said in a statement. "This Office will continue to prosecute the misuse and theft of campaign funds by those in positions of trust.”

A spokesman for the service station trade association told the Capital-Gazette it has cooperated with prosecutors since the missing money was noticed.

"It's a very unfortunate thing," said Roy Littlefield III. "We've got a schedule, and we're getting the money back."