Inola ex-superintendent ordered to give up licenses

CLAREMORE The former Inola school superintendent was ordered to surrender his administrative and teaching licenses to the district attorney's office as part of a plea agreement for using school money for personal use, prosecutors said Saturday.

Billy Tom Strickland pleaded guilty Friday to embezzlement by employee and concealing stolen property. He received two three-year deferred sentences that will run concurrently.

Strickland was ordered to pay $1,290 in restitution, plus a $625 fine and court costs.

As part of the plea agreement, District Attorney Gene Haynes dismissed charges of falsifying accounts to receive payment from school funds and payment of personal bills with school funds.

Strickland must serve 60 days in the Rogers County jail or perform 240 hours of community service, Haynes said. If Strickland completes the deferred sentence without incident, his court record will be expunged and sealed, he said.

Charges were filed against Strickland in January, after a state audit reported Strickland overpaid himself $9,000 and received more than $17,000 in "unsupported travel expenditures at Inola.

School funds also were improperly used to pay for a cell phone for Strickland's wife, an elementary school secretary, auditors found. Also, school funds were improperly used to reimburse his wife for a Miss Oklahoma reception, according to the audit.

Strickland resigned his post in Inola to take a position in Perry, the contract was rescinded.

Archive ID: 1393049