By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support local journalism.
Woman must repay victims for theft
Placeholder Image

Michael Allen was in court Friday when a Superior Court judge ordered a Dawsonville woman to pay back more than $20,000 she admitted stealing from him and a friend.

  

Leaving the courtroom, Allen shook his head.

  

“I still think I’ll probably never see a penny of that money,” he said.

Lynda Catherine Grant, 43, pleaded guilty last week to a single felony theft by taking charge.

  

Superior Court Judge Andrew Fuller sentenced her to 10 years probation, which could be suspended once $20,935 in restitution is paid.

  

Grant admitted that on Sept. 29, 2005, she took a blue bag filled with cash from Goodson’s Drug Store in Dawsonville.

  

According to court testimony, Allen and Philip Goodson, who owns the downtown Dawsonville pharmacy, were planning to buy a vehicle together with the money Grant took from a store counter and stuffed under her shirt.

  

“It’s just hard to lose that much money, real hard,” Allen said.

  

The theft went unsolved for a few years until a tip led authorities to Grant, who had spent all the money.

  

Grant, who was joined by family in the courtroom Friday morning and has been out on bond since September 2009, appeared calm as her court-appointed attorney, Rob McNeill, apologized to Allen on his client’s behalf.

  

“First and foremost, my client is remorseful,” McNeill said. “She wants me to apologize to both Mr. Allen and Mr. Goodson.

  

“She benefited from it. She is responsible and remorseful for it ... she knows she did wrong.”

  

Terms of the restitution will be determined later. In the meantime, Allen said he’s looking at a piece of property Grant owns in the event she does not have that much money on hand.