Former radio ad sales rep accepts plea deal, to pay $2,500 restitution

A former salesperson for a gospel radio station WEKC in Williamsburg, who allegedly stole from the station in 2011 and 2013, reached a plea agreement Monday morning that will temporarily leave him with a criminal record.

A Whitley County Grand Jury indicted Larry Day of Corbin on Dec. 16, 2013, and charged him with 22 counts of theft by failure to make required disposition of property under $500 and two counts theft by failure to make required disposition of property over $500 but less than $10,000.

The indictment centered around allegations that Day converted $5,573 he received from selling ads at the radio station for his own benefit rather than turning the money over to the radio station.

Day had been scheduled to stand trial Monday morning but as part of a pre-trial diversion agreement, Day instead entered an Alford plea to all 24 charges in exchange for prosecutors recommending a three-year prison sentence that will be diverted.
An Alford plea means that Day still maintains his innocence but acknowledges prosecutors may have had enough evidence to convict him at trial.

During Monday’s hearing, Whitley Circuit Judge Dan Ballou informed Day that the Alford plea had the same practical effect as a normal guilty plea.

The plea deal calls for Day to pay $2,500 restitution to the radio station and return all radio station property in his possession.
Day agreed to pay the restitution within 30 days, and defense attorney David Hoskins told station owners and managers in court Monday that Day had the equipment in his vehicle and he would give it back them that day.

After restitution is paid, the property is returned and Day pays $130 court costs, the diversion agreement allows Day to ask for the charges to be dropped and wiped off his record.

Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Ben Davis said he thinks the radio station owners and management should be pleased with the resolution of the case.

"With a pre-trial diversion agreement, you must follow through with the terms or it is not the conclusion of it because it is in effect a guilty plea," Davis noted.

In this case, if Day doesn’t pay the restitution and return the radio station’s property then he would have to serve three years in prison, Davis added.

Hoskins said that Day was pleased with the resolution of the case, and that Day still maintains his innocence but took the plea deal just to resolve the case.

"It has been an ordeal. He has some health problems. It is a scary thing to be under indictment. All of his guilty pleas were Alford pleas, which means that he maintains that he is innocent," Hoskins said. "I am pretty confident that if we had taken this case to trial there would have been a jury verdict in our favor, but there is always uncertainty with a jury.

"There is also additional expense in trying a case. At his age and stage in life, I think he made the right decision saying, ‘I will pay these folks $2,500 and be done with it.’"

Ballou scheduled a status hearing in the case for Sept. 8.

Hoskins said the court would probably be hearing a motion to dismiss Day’s charges during that Sept. 8 hearing.