PADUCAH, Ky.
The former Executive Director and vendor of the Paducah-McCracken County Convention Center Corp. has pleaded guilty in United States District Court to theft and embezzlement of property.
According to the indictment, John Patrick Kerr Jr., acting as executive director of the convention center, aided and abetted by defendant Susan H. Wilson, embezzled and stole about $200,000 in building funds beginning on or about Sept. 20, 2010, and continuing until Oct. 6, 2011.
Kerr is accused of devising a scheme to embezzle at least $200,000 from the center's business account to support his dependency on pain medication. He allegedly commited the crime by creating fraudulent invoices on his work computer, made payable to Wilson, and then issuing Wilson fraudulent convention center business checks.
The two are accused of splitting the proceeds. Kerr contracted Wilson at an hourly rate of $120 per hour for advertising services that were allegedly never rendered. Kerr and Wilson face a possible sentence of 20 years in prison, a $500,000 fine and supervised release for a term of three years.
