Former Delhi city clerk will serve 15 months in federal prison for embezzling over $100,000

CEDAR RAPIDS - A federal judge sentenced a former Delhi city clerk to 15 months in federal prison Wednesday for embezzling more than $100,000 from the city.

U.S. District Senior Judge Linda Reade chastised Angela J. Billings for not paying any of the $133,915 restitution, as part of the plea agreement she made in June when she was convicted of theft concerning a program receiving federal funds.

Reade questioned Billings' intentions to pay the money because she has a $43,000 retirement account from her time with the city but she chose to spend money to further her education, pay for cable television and a cellphone.

Reade also mentioned she may not give Billings credit for accepting responsibility - pleading guilty - but later in the hearing gave her that credit.

Billings, 43, of Anamosa, while working as city clerk for Delhi, 'willfully embezzled, stole, intentionally misapplied and converted” for her personal use at least $75,000 in city funds from March 2007 through January 2015, according to the charges.

In December 2016, Auditor of the State Mary Mosiman conducted a special audit of the city, which found Billings spent the embezzled city funds for satellite television, weight loss supplements, calls to a psychic hotline and more than $69,000 in improper paychecks and expenses.

Records show Billings used a city credit card to charge $88,160 of personal expenditures, received $63,226 in unauthorized pay and lowered her and her ex-husband's utility bills by $6,748.

The audit found she paid for a fraction of the personal expenses - $2,419 - with personal checks written to the city's card company.

After Billings resigned in 2015, a new city clerk was organizing records when she noticed payments to a credit card she didn't know at the time belonged to the city. She also noticed utility billing discrepancies.

Delhi Mayor Terry Harbach said last year after the audit was released that he had no 'suspicions” at the time that Billings was diverting funds and giving herself extra paychecks.

Harbach and other council members attended Wednesday's sentencing but declined to comment after the hearing.

Harbach did submit a victim's impact statement to the court, which Reade considered during the sentencing.

Billings, who started tearing up, apologized to Harbach, the city council and the community for her actions during the sentencing. She also apologized to her friends and family. She said she 'takes responsibility for what I did” and promised to pay restitution.

Leon Spies, Billings' lawyer, told the judge that Billings not only worked as the city clerk for many years but also was a meter reader for the city and worked as a waitress and animal clinic to support her and her daughter after her husband abandoned them. Spies admitted Billings caused the city 'real harm,” as well as herself and her family, but she is a 'woman worth redemption” and asked Reade to go below the guideline sentencing.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jacob Schunk asked the judge to sentence Billings to the upper end of the guideline sentencing range, which was 12 to 18 months. Schunk also pointed out that Billings cooperated with investigators and admitted the theft but she had already been 'caught red-handed.”

Reade said she wouldn't go below the guideline sentencing. She agreed with Schunk that Billings admitted her crime after they had proof of the embezzlement.

According to the auditor's report, Billings, who was the clerk from 2007 to 2015, made improper purchases on the city's credit card of nearly $90,000 that included $16,264 at convenience stores and $13,780 at Wal-Mart.

The audit also found $6,700 of unpaid and not billed utilities linked to her - including $4,719 in unpaid utility bills for her home and for her ex-husband's business from March 1, 2007 through Dec. 30, 2014.

Billings remains free on previous conditions until she is notified to self-surrender to a federal prison.

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