An Oxford woman who stole $2.9 million from a Mississippi State University sorority was ordered to pay back all of the money and serve nearly four years in federal prison.
Betty Jane Cadle, 75, was sentenced Friday to serve 45 months or one count of wire fraud at the federal courthouse in Oxford. Over seven years, she wrote checks from the account of Delta Omega Chapter House Corporation for the Kappa Delta Sorority to her personal bank accounts and business.
“The defendant abused her position of trust and authority by stealing money she was entrusted with for her own personal gain,” Clay Joyner, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Mississippi, said in a statement.
As treasurer, Cadle was responsible for managing sorority dues, purchasing items for the sorority house, paying utility bills, filing tax documents and general bookkeeping, according to court records.
At her sentencing, representatives from the sorority said Cadle bullied members and “maintained an attitude of superiority” to avoid questions about the sorority house’s finances, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
U.S. District Court Judge Glen Davidson imposed restitution for $2.9 million.
Court records state Cadle received millions as part of a “scheme,” but she only faced one count of wire fraud.
She pleaded guilty in March for writing a $20,000 check from the sorority corporation and depositing it in 2018 into an account for her business, the Oxford children’s clothing store Belles and Beaus, which is now closed.
Between 2018 and 2019, Cadle deposited another five checks totaling about $111,500 into the business, according to court documents. As part of her plea deal, the federal government dismissed five counts of wire fraud.
Court records did not say where the rest of the money went.
The maximum sentence she could have faced was 20 years incarceration, a $250,000 fine, three years supervised release and a $100 special assessment.
Cadle is scheduled to report to prison Oct. 24. The U.S. Attorney’s Office did not say at which facility she will serve her sentence, and Bureau of Prison records do not list her as of Tuesday.
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