Amid concerns by defense attorneys over how much a former city employee might owe in restitution for faking a bout with breast cancer, city officials said Thursday that documentation of the fraud is compelling.
"We can document clearly that (Keele Maynor) received as a benefit over $70,000 in paid leave," Chattanooga city auditor Stan Sewell confirmed by telephone.
Ms. Maynor was a city administrative assistant from 2003 to 2008, during which period she claimed she had breast cancer and allegedly received close to $100,000 in the form of gifts from private organizations and paid time off from co-workers.
She already has pleaded guilty to multiple counts of fraud and faces up to six years in prison or, in the alternative, making full restitution as punishment.
But with the restitution amount still in question, Hamilton County Criminal Court Judge Don Poole agreed Thursday to delay the sentencing hearing scheduled for Monday for several weeks.
Defense attorney Stuart Brown said in court that reviews still need to be made. His motion to continue the sentencing hearing, which was filed together with public defender Ardena Garth, said the continuance was necessary to "protect the defendant's due process rights."
Hamilton County Executive Assistant District Attorney Neal Pinkston did not oppose the continuance but said restitution will not even be an issue if Judge Poole decides to send Ms. Maynor to prison. According to state law, prison time can be substituted for restitution payments.
But Mr. Brown wants to keep his client out of jail, he said, while also making sure she'll actually be able to repay what she stole. He previously has stated that Ms. Maynor owes about $27,000 to the private organizations that gave her help. He said what she owes to the city could turn out to be "considerably less" than what the city has stated.
Mr. Sewell said Thursday he could not immediately provide documentation used as the basis for calculating the restitution amount. He said it will all be presented in court on the day of the sentencing hearing. The hearing now is scheduled for July 26.
Mr. Sewell said city code specifies that paid leave time can be transferred among employees, but there are no "detailed policies" as to how that should happen.
He said that regardless of any "technical blips" that might have happened when Ms. Maynor's colleagues gave her their paid leave, "there is no question that she lied to obtain benefits."