Moore accepts plea in tax office case

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April 3, 2007

Fine, restitution, probation handed down early Monday

By Bob Belcher The Corsicana Daily Sun Tue Apr 03, 2007, 08:40 AM CDT

One week to the day following a retirement reception held in the county courtroom at the Navarro County Courthouse, Tax Assessor/Collector Peggy Moore had another day in a courtroom, this time in Navarro County’s 13th District Court before Judge John Jackson.

Moore accepted a plea agreement Monday stemming from a 2006 investigation by the Texas Rangers into irregularities in her office. She was indicted by a grand jury in June 2006 on charges of misapplication of fiduciary property, tampering with physical evidence and theft over $1,500 but under $20,000 by a public servant.

Under the terms of the agreement worked out between the District Attorney’s office and defense attorney Rob Dunn, Moore entered a plea of no contest to one count of misapplication of fiduciary property, a lessor-included offense.

Jackson’s ruling on the plea agreement imposed one year deferred adjudication, one year probation, ordered Moore to pay court costs and a fine of $500, and Moore was ordered to make restitution in the amount of $4,030.29.

“The buck stops here,” Moore said following the ruling, “and regardless of what happens in my office, I have to take the consequences.”

Moore again denied any connection between her recent resignation and the charges against her.

“It had nothing to do with it,” she said as she stepped into the courthouse elevator to go upstairs to report to the probation department.

“This was an unfortunate case all the way around,” District Attorney R. Lowell Thompson said following Jackson’s ruling.

“Based on negotiations that preceded me, and those with my office, I believe that justice has been served for Navarro County,” he added.

“In light of all of the different circumstances in this case, I think the outcome was fair,” Steve Keathley, former Navarro County district attorney said Monday. Keathley was the lead county prosecutor when the indictments were returned against Moore last year.

Coincidentally, the Navarro County Commissioners Court began interviews Monday with candidates for replacing Moore as the county tax assessor/collector. Moore will remain in office until a successor is in place.

“It was probably the most appropriate way to handle the situation,” County Judge H.M. Davenport Jr. said of Moore’s plea bargain arrangement in the case.

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Bob Belcher may be contacted via e-mail at belcher@corsicanadailysun.com

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Moore accepts plea in tax office case

Fine, restitution, probation handed down early Monday

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