Former Owen County auditor leaves prison, still owes debt to county

May 23--After more than a year and a half of incarceration, former Owen County Auditor Angie Lawson walked out of a Kentucky federal prison at 7:11 a.m. Monday, having served her time.

But a big portion of 58-year-old Lawson's debt to society remains, with a $1,159,228.32 judgment against her on the court docket.

Lawson pleaded guilty in 2015 to theft for using county credit cards over several years to make illegal purchases, nearly all at Wal-Mart stores, totaling $346,156.14.

In addition, Lawson owes Owen County $89,133.79 in health insurance premiums she failed to deduct from her paycheck while working in the auditor's office as well as $1,119.51 she overpaid herself. She also owes $99,844.85 for a state audit into Owen County's financial records. Penalties and interest account for the rest.

Partial repayment has come in the form of $50,000 from insurance; another $90,000 is being sought from the bonding agency that insured Lawson. She lived in a bunker-type residence near Gosport when she was sentenced. Prison officials would not say where she was headed when she left the prison Monday morning.

She will be on supervised release with a parole officer for three years, and is not allowed to have a credit card during that time.

The Indiana Attorney General's Office has a suit pending against Lawson as well. Two civil lawsuits pending in Owen Circuit Court also seek repayment. One, against Lawson and her husband, Larry Lawson, has a June 19 trial date set. There are three file folders in the case, thick with legal motions, account audits and bond agency reports. When stacked, the folders are 5 inches tall.

Injunctions prohibit the Lawsons from selling their home and 7.44 acres on Owen County's Dillman Road, and also a 1973 Volkswagen Super Beetle, two old Ford Expedition SUVs and a 1989 passenger car, court records say.

The other lawsuit has been on hold pending Lawson's release from prison.

When she was sentenced in October 2015 to the low-security federal prison and medical facility in Lexington, Lawson asked U.S. District Court Judge William T. Lawrence to forgive her, saying, "I've lost everything." She vowed to start her life over upon her release, saying she would get a job and repay what she stole, from liquor to diamond jewelry.

Many of the illegally purchased items that were seized by the state police, such as food and liquor, were consumed. County attorney Richard Lorenz said other items, such as a generator and an iPad, were kept for county workers to use. The rest of the items, more than a pickup truck-load of things such as DVD movies and jewelry, are being stored in the basement of the county courthouse and the National Guard Armory, Lorenz said.

Owen County Auditor Patty Steward said she is not sure exactly where the boxes are, and could not take time to locate them so the contents could be looked through and inventoried.

Lorenz has suggested in the past that the county could sell the items, maybe during an auction at the county employee picnic that Lawson initiated in 2010 during her stint as county auditor. "Maybe if she autographed them we could make some money back," Lorenz said.

At the time she was indicted, Lawson was employed as chief deputy auditor, was an elected member of the county council, was treasurer of the Owen County Republican Party and was on the ballot for the office of county clerk in the fall 2014 election.

She received 1,666 votes in the overwhelmingly Republican county, while her opponent, current Clerk Linda Roy, was the lone Democrat elected that year.

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