A Mount Airy man has been sentenced to prison after he pleaded guilty to 25 counts of embezzlement in connection with the theft of nearly $2 million in furniture, authorities said.
A judge sentenced Michael Wayne Pennington, 46, to serve 15 to 18 months in prison and put him on probation for five years, said Noelle Talley, a spokesman for the N.C. Attorney General's Office.
The judge also ordered Pennington to pay a $5,000 fine, perform 100 hours of community service and cooperate with authorities who are pursuing criminal charges against other defendants in this case.
Pennington, a former assistant superintendent at Bassett Furniture Industries Inc., was accused of participating in a scheme to steal seven trailer loads of furniture from the Bassett plant in Mount Airy. Authorities said that the thefts of furniture occurred over about seven years. He entered the guilty plea last week.
In July 2008, John Ronald Jarrett, 66, the former plant manager, pleaded guilty to seven counts of solicitation to commit embezzlement in excess of $100,000.
A judge sentenced Jarrett to serve four to six years in prison and ordered him to pay $250,000 in restitution.
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