FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 16, 2021
For press inquiries only, contact:
Mike Lewis (334) 353-2199
Joy Patterson (334) 242-7491
Attorney General Steve Marshall Announces Arrest of Former Montgomery Public Schools Interim Chief Financial Officer
(MONTGOMERY) – Attorney General Steve Marshall announced the arrest yesterday of a former interim chief financial officer for Montgomery Public School System. Brenda Palmer, 68, of Montgomery, is charged with violating the state ethics law and lying to an investigator of the Attorney General’s Office. She surrendered to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office.
Palmer was arrested on a warrant brought by Special Agents of the Attorney General’s Office. She is charged with one count of using her official position for personal gain and one count of providing a false statement to an investigator with the Attorney General’s Office. The case is being prosecuted by Attorney General Marshall’s Special Investigations Division.
Specifically, the warrant alleges that Palmer used her position as interim Chief School Financial Officer for MPS to perpetrate a false invoicing scheme in which she and her accomplices stole $314,867.56 from the school system. When questioned by investigators with the Attorney General’s Office about her involvement with the false invoicing scheme, Palmer lied and denied any knowledge of the scheme.
No further information about the investigation or about Palmer’s alleged crimes other than that stated in the warrant may be released at this time.
If convicted, Palmer faces a penalty of two to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $30,000 for the ethics charge, a class B felony; and one year and one day to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $15,000 for the charge of providing a false statement to an AG investigator, which is a class C felony.
*A warrant is merely an accusation. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
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