A Fayette County woman was sentenced to eight years in a state corrections facility Friday after she pled guilty to stealing nearly $91,000 from two non-profit organizations.

Sherrin Leigh Henegar, 47, pled guilty to first-degree theft at a hearing Monday. While serving as the acting treasurer for the Fayette County Band Foundation last year, she began to transfer the foundation's money and funds from the Jerry Bobo Scholarship Fund to her accounts for personal use.

The thefts were discovered during an internal audit in 2020. It was discovered Henegar transferred $85,777 from holdings of the Fayette Band Foundation and another $5,150 from the Jerry Bobo Fund.

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The scholarship fund is named in memory of Fayette County High School's former, longtime band director. It is awarded to high school seniors who are planning to study music education.

In total, she made over 90 transactions and distributed the funds into accounts belonging to herself and her children. These were reported to the District Attorney by investigators with the DA's Criminal Investigations Division.

"This was a complicated case," said District Attorney Andy Hamlin. "Mrs. Henegar had gone to great lengths to conceal the thefts. The bank staff, representatives of the band foundation, along with my office’s investigators did an excellent job in finding and documenting each instance."

The 24th Judicial Circuit District Attorney announced the guilty plea Friday morning. Henegar was sentenced Monday to eight years in the Alabama Department of Corrections with three years of supervised probation.

As a part of the plea agreement, Henegar's eight-year sentence will be suspended, but could be ordered to serve the full eight years in state prison should she violate any conditions of her probation.

She will still be required to serve seven months confinement in the Fayette County Jail. Additionally, she was ordered to repay the entire $90,976 stolen. The amount was paid in full as of Thursday morning.

“This case was very important to my office and to the generations of people that have poured their heart and soul into making the band foundation a success," Hamlin said. "I’m glad it was brought to a successful resolution and that the band has been made whole.”

Henegar turned herself into the Fayette County Jail on Wednesday to begin serving the jail term.

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