ONLY IN THE WORLD-HERALD
Things weren't looking good for Adonus Marshall on Monday.
Sitting in a Douglas County courtroom, the Omaha man faced five years of probation or as many as 20 years in prison for stealing at least $6,600 in government benefits by convincing a state agency his daughter lived with him in Omaha when she really was living in Denver.
Five months ago, when he pleaded no contest to theft charges, prosecutors had told Marshall they wouldn't object to probation if Marshall worked at paying back what he owed the state.
Between then and now, Marshall didn't repay a dime.
So Monday, Marshall sat in a Douglas County courtroom and listened to a judge lament his lack of effort. He heard a prosecutor blast him for “not getting off of his butt” and getting a job to pay back the state.
Panicked, Marshall piped up.
“Your Honor,” he begged, “I'll give everything in my pocket right now ... which is about two, three hundred dollars.”
It was too little, too late.
Douglas County District Judge Peter Bataillon sentenced Marshall to 1½ to 2 years in prison for the scam — noting that he stole from, and did nothing to repay, taxpayers.
Marshall had apologized to the judge for the theft. He also had downplayed it.
He said he had been receiving benefits for his daughter, Adonyae, when she lived with him while her mother was in jail. In April 2008, Marshall applied through the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services for government assistance, including Aid to Dependent Children, food stamps, Medicaid and child care.
He told a caseworker he needed the state to help pay for Adonyae's care while he worked his minimum-wage job, 37 hours a week, at a plastics factory.
But he didn't tell the state his daughter soon moved to Colorado to live with her grandma.
Nevertheless, Marshall continued to cash the government's checks over the next 18 months.
He told the judge Monday he didn't set out to steal from the state; he simply failed to alert HHS workers when his daughter moved out.
Marshall also failed to mention that he had to reapply for benefits for his daughter every year — and still listed his out-of-state daughter as living with him.
“When the child did go back to Colorado ... you were supposed to let the state know,” Bataillon told Marshall. “But you kept taking the money.”
The state says it doled out more than $6,600 in benefits to Marshall and more than $14,000 in benefits to Marshall's day care provider, Tanya Murph. Murph is awaiting trial on a charge of theft and assistance fraud. She has pleaded not guilty.
In a similar case, Bataillon gave a three-year probation sentence to an Omaha woman who took $5,300 in child care benefits for children she never cared for.
That woman, Debra McDavid, received probation in part because she had made a down payment on restitution, said prosecutor Katie Benson, a deputy Douglas County attorney.
Marshall and his attorney, Bill Eustice, acknowledged that Marshall should have alerted the state. However, Eustice said, Marshall had no criminal record and was willing to make amends.
Marshall gave several reasons why he hadn't paid restitution. He said he lost his job in January. He also owes $2,100 in back child support to the state of Colorado for the daughter in question.
In addition to offering up his pocket cash, Marshall told the judge he would tap his family for money.
“This situation has been a burden on my family … (but) I do have family members who are willing to help me out,” he said. “I'm just frustrated right now. I'd like to go home and work this matter out.”
Under the prison term — cut in half, according to state sentencing guidelines — Marshall will be eligible to head home in about nine to 12 months.
Contact the writer:
402-444-1275, todd.cooper@owh.com
Copyright ©2012 Omaha World-Herald®. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, displayed or redistributed for any purpose without permission from the Omaha World-Herald.
