ILS1
03-23-2006, 04:59 AM
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The state Corrections Department put a former minor league baseball player on the payroll in a no-show job so that he could help prison guards win a softball tournament, investigators say.
The ringer, Mark Guerra, 34, agreed to repay $1,400 and complete 50 hours of community service, state Attorney General Charlie Crist said Wednesday.
Guerra was charged with accepting paychecks for work never done at a prison library. Investigators said he accepted the money to play on the winning team in a tournament held last May by Corrections Secretary Jim Crosby.
Crosby was fired by Gov. Jeb Bush last month.
"It is disturbing that a state agency would place so much importance on a team sport that it would stoop to committing crimes," Crist said.
Story Link (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060322/ap_on_fe_st/corrections_softball)
The ringer, Mark Guerra, 34, agreed to repay $1,400 and complete 50 hours of community service, state Attorney General Charlie Crist said Wednesday.
Guerra was charged with accepting paychecks for work never done at a prison library. Investigators said he accepted the money to play on the winning team in a tournament held last May by Corrections Secretary Jim Crosby.
Crosby was fired by Gov. Jeb Bush last month.
"It is disturbing that a state agency would place so much importance on a team sport that it would stoop to committing crimes," Crist said.
Story Link (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060322/ap_on_fe_st/corrections_softball)