{"id":233455,"date":"2026-04-15T23:28:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T23:28:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/233455\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T23:28:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T23:28:07","slug":"broward-prosecutors-asked-for-prison-but-ex-principal-gets-probation-in-238k-theft-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/233455\/","title":{"rendered":"Broward prosecutors asked for prison, but ex-principal gets probation in $238K theft case"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph\">FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. \u2014 A little more than a month after a Broward jury <a href=\"https:\/\/www.local10.com\/news\/local\/2026\/03\/03\/jury-finds-ex-pompano-beach-catholic-school-principal-guilty-in-238k-theft-case\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.local10.com\/news\/local\/2026\/03\/03\/jury-finds-ex-pompano-beach-catholic-school-principal-guilty-in-238k-theft-case\/\">found her guilty<\/a> in a scheme to embezzle nearly $240,000 from her employer, a judge sentenced a former Catholic school principal to probation on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Broward prosecutors say they had asked the judge to sentence Lori St. Thomas, the former principal at St. Coleman Catholic School in Pompano Beach, to five years in state prison followed by 20 years of probation and a $121,548 restitution payment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Instead, a judge chose to give her 10 years of probation and to pay the restitution.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Jurors found St. Thomas, 62, of Coral Springs, guilty of organized scheme to defraud on March 3.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Authorities said she used an unauthorized bank account to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.local10.com\/news\/local\/2025\/09\/25\/longtime-catholic-school-principal-took-238k-in-paycheck-fraud-scheme-broward-deputies-say\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.local10.com\/news\/local\/2025\/09\/25\/longtime-catholic-school-principal-took-238k-in-paycheck-fraud-scheme-broward-deputies-say\/\">deposit extra direct payments<\/a> for herself and also transferred nonapproved credits into a personal pension fund from 2016 to 2024, the year in which the Archdiocese of Miami fired her.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">In a downward departure memorandum, defense attorneys argued that St. Thomas committed \u201ca non-violent crime for which the need for restitution outweighs the need for imprisonment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Attorneys also said she had additional mitigating circumstances that should spare her from prison.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Attorneys said those include the fact that \u201cshe requires treatment for certain mental health issues that are not readily available to her in either the Florida State Prison system or the Broward County Jail.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">They said St. Thomas also \u201cmaintains strong family and community ties, is actively engaged in her community and contributes meaningful value to it,\u201d saying it was \u201cevident\u201d in \u201ctestimony and letters\u201d presented to the judge.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cShe has dedicated her life to service of others; first as a nurse, and then as an educator and leader for children in the Catholic faith,\u201d the memorandum reads. \u201cThe outpouring of support she is receiving demonstrates that she provides invaluable contributions, value, skills, time, support, and expertise. Accordingly, the character and attitude of (St. Thomas) indicate that she is unlikely to commit another crime, and that she has responded affirmatively to non-custodial treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Records show that defense attorneys had unsuccessfully asked the judge for an acquittal or new trial.<\/p>\n<p>\ud83c\udfe0 News From Your Neighborhood<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph b-article-body__copyright\">Copyright 2026 by WPLG Local10.com &#8211; All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. \u2014 A little more than a month after a Broward jury found her guilty in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":233456,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[249,251,250],"class_list":["post-233455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233455"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233455\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/233456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}