District Attorney Todd Riebe announced late last week that Kevin Barnett has been sentenced to serve 180 days in jail after being convicted of felony embezzlement and felony grand theft by embezzlement. Barnett, 39, of Jackson committed the criminal acts while he served as the president of the Mother Lode Youth Athletic Conference, or MLYAC. Barnett was a MLYAC board member for 16 years and president for the past 6 years.“What makes this theft particularly egregious is the abuse of trust,” said Riebe. “The Mother Lode Youth Athletic Conference exists to benefit kids, and for a person purportedly working towards that purpose to turn around and rip them off is, quite frankly, reprehensible.” 

On July 9, in Amador County Superior Court, the Honorable David Devore sentenced Barnett to jail and ordered five years of formal probation and full restitution to MLYAC. During a preliminary hearing, Doug Grey from the Jackson Police Department testified about his investigation, which revealed 11 checks made out to cash by Barnett for at total of over 8,200 dollars. In addition to the checks were 24 ATM withdrawals for 3,500 dollars and 9 debit card transactions for 1,100 dollars. The thefts began within one week of Barnett opening a separate bank account for MLYAC. The type of bank account Barnett opened only required one signature for withdrawing money and the bank statements were sent to his home address instead of the mailing address for the association. The MLYAC consists of eight football teams with players and cheerleaders ranging in age from 8 to 14 from the counties of Amador, Calaveras, El Dorado, Tuolumne, and a portion of San Joaquin. The association serves over 2,500 children in five counties.