FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 23, 2021
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Attorney General Steve Marshall Announces Multi-Count Indictment and Arrest of Former Tuscaloosa County License Commissioner
(MONTGOMERY) – Attorney General Steve Marshall announced the arrest of Lynne C. Robbins, the former Tuscaloosa County License Commissioner, for the use of her public office for personal gain, theft of property in the first degree, and seven counts of computer tampering. Robbins surrendered to the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s Office today and was released on $10,000 bond.
Robbins, 56, of Tuscaloosa, served as Tuscaloosa County’s license commissioner until her resignation in February 2020.
Attorney General Marshall’s Special Prosecutions Division presented evidence to a Tuscaloosa County grand jury resulting in an indictment against Robbins.
The use of public office for personal gain charge relates to a series of checks Robbins wrote to the Tuscaloosa County License Commissioner’s office that were returned unpaid for non-sufficient funds. Robbins used her position as license commissioner to avoid paying the returned-check fee assessed in bad-check cases and to avoid repaying the face amounts of the unpaid checks. The first-degree theft charge relates to a scheme of conduct employed by Robbins between January 2016 and December 3, 2019, to take cash belonging to the Tuscaloosa County License Commissioner’s Office. The seven computer tampering charges relate to specific instances where Robbins altered data in the Tuscaloosa License Commissioner’s Office’s computer network to facilitate her embezzlement scheme and to conceal the scheme from discovery by county or state officials.
The charges against Robbins were brought after separate cases against Robbins were referred to the Attorney General’s Office by the Alabama Department of Examiners of Public Accounts and the Alabama Ethics Commission. Additionally, the State Bureau of Investigation, the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s Office and the Tuscaloosa County District Attorney’s Office assisted in the investigation.
No further information about the investigation or Robbins’ charges may be released at this time.
The use of office for personal gain and theft of property in the first degree are both class B felonies, punishable by two to 20 years in prison. Because the State alleges Robbins’ computer tampering was committed to facilitate her embezzlement scheme and to conceal her illegal conduct from government officials, that charge is a Class C felony, punishable by one year and one day to 10 years in prison.
*An indictment is merely an accusation. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
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