Money case gets a deal

By Barry Porterfield
Staff Writer

May 15, 2008 05:41 pm

— A deal has been struck for the former director of a Lindsay electric company accused of first embezzling funds a handful of years ago and then falsifying records to cover up the act.
The recent plea agreement came for Michael Treadwell, 65, who has been facing the dual charges since early March 2007.
His alleged acts against Rural Electric Cooperative (REC) are reported to have occurred a few years earlier.
Those allegations drew pleas of guilty from Treadwell as part of an agreement with state prosecutors formalized during a hearing Friday in Garvin County District Court.
As part of the deal Treadwell was given a two-year deferred sentence pending his lawful conduct.
During that time he is scheduled to be supervised through the district attorney’s office.
Another part of Treadwell’s sentence was an order to pay a $500 contribution to Lindsay Public Schools, in addition to other court fines levied.
Treadwell was first charged with using two REC credit cards issued to him to make improper purchases.
He was then charged with diverting REC funds to pay for the charges by falsifying cash disbursement vouchers.
The specific purchases in question — eight in all — came back in 2003 and 2004 from two Oklahoma City jewelry stores totaling nearly $3,200.
An affidavit filed in the case shows Treadwell himself admitted to at least two officials that he had used the company cards to make the purchases.
That admission reportedly came after a routine audit followed by an in-house review by REC of the purchases.
REC officials conducting the review concluded that Treadwell, who later resigned in 2005, had used the company cards to purchase items for his own personal use.
The review also concluded he reported the purchases as business travel or as supplies in an effort to conceal the fact they were for his own use.
Eventually the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation was called into the case, which later submitted the reports that officials in the Garvin County District Attorney’s office turned into formal charges against Treadwell.