Former Akron town clerk ordered to pay $110K in restitution after conviction

A former Akron town clerk who pleaded guilty to felony ethics and theft charges won’t serve any jail time as long as she pays back the $110,908.60 she stole, Attorney General Steve Marshall announced Monday.

The case was presented to a grand jury in April 2021, and the grand jury returned an indictment that month.

Diann Taylor, 43, of Akron pleaded guilty to using her office or official position for her own personal gain and first-degree theft. At the plea hearing, Taylor admitted that between August 2017 and November 2020 she used her access to the town’s bank accounts to purchase more than $30,000 in goods and services and withdrew more than $77,000 in cash from an ATM.

Taylor was sentenced to 25 months in prison, but Alabama sentencing guidelines suggested a sentence that did not include prison time. Instead, Taylor’s sentence was suspended and she was placed on five years of probation. If she fails to pay restitution, she’ll be put back in jail.

“Public trust is lost when public officials exploit and abuse their access to critical funds and resources. No one is above the law; anyone who commits theft for personal gain will be prosecuted,” said Marshall.

Marshall thanked the Alabama Department of Examiners of Public Accounts for their assistance in this case alongside the special agents of his Special Prosecutions Division who investigated the case and Assistant Attorney General Nathan W. Mays.