BREAKING: Former Tuscaloosa County License Commissioner Indicted, Arrested

Lynne C. Robbins, the former Tuscaloosa County License Commissioner, has been indicted, arrested and formally charged with nine crimes related to allegations of the systematic theft of taxpayer funds during her time in office.

Tuscaloosa County Probate Judge and County Commission Chairman Rob Robertson announced in January that more than $140,000 was missing from the license commissioner's office under Robbins' supervision.

On Thursday afternoon, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall announced that a grand jury had indicted Robbins on charges of using of her public office for personal gain, theft of property in the first degree and seven counts of computer tampering.

All nine charges are considered felonies.

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Robbins surrendered to Tuscaloosa County Sheriff's deputies Thursday, was booked in the county jail and has since been released on a $10,000 bond.

Robbins served as commissioner from January 2016 until her resignation in February 2020. Marshall alleges that in that time, Robbins wrote 16 bad checks to her own office in exchange for almost $5,000 cash collected from taxpayers and never repaid the money lost.

She also stands accused of "a scheme of conduct" employed for nearly four years "to take cash belonging to the Tuscaloosa County License Commissioner’s Office."

Robertson said in January that Robbins accepted money from taxpayers then modified records so that not all collected funds were deposited into the commissioner's official account.

From April 2016 through December 2019, Robbins allegedly made modifications totaling $131,180.96 and the final destination of those funds is still unknown.

Finally, the seven computer tampering charges relate to specific instances where Robbins allegedly altered data in the Tuscaloosa License Commissioner’s Office’s computer network to facilitate and conceal her embezzlement scheme.

Marshall said the indictment is the result of cooperation between the Attorney General’s Office, the Alabama Department of Examiners of Public Accounts, the Alabama Ethics Commission, the State Bureau of Investigation, the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s Office and the Tuscaloosa County District Attorney’s Office.

No further details were available Thursday afternoon. Stay connected to the Tuscaloosa Thread for more information on this case as it is released.