Man sentenced to confinement

ATHENS, Ga. --- An Oconee County businessman Friday was sentenced to 20 years probation and 120 days in confinement for stealing from a nonprofit group he helped found to build a veterans memorial.

Jim Ivey, 54, faced up to four years in prison after pleading guilty to taking more than $36,000 in 2004 and 2005 from the Oconee County Veterans Memorial Foundation.

Instead, he'll be allowed to suspend any jail time and serve 60 to 120 days in a minimum security probation detention center, spending the rest of his 20-year sentence on probation, Oconee County Superior Court Judge Lawton Stephens said at a sentence hearing Friday in Athens.

Mr. Ivey was taken into custody by the Oconee County Sheriff's Office after the sentencing.

Judge Stephens, who said he planned to give Mr. Ivey the maximum sentence, said he was swayed by testimony today on Mr. Ivey's behalf, especially from Oconee County commissioners Melvin Davis and Jim Luke and the Rev. Archibald Killian.

Mr. Ivey, the former CEO of ComputerLand Advanced Technology Group in Athens and once a Republican candidate for the state Senate, showed he took responsibility for the thefts by pleading guilty and being willing to serve time in prison, Judge Stephens said.

"And when you pay back most of the money that was stolen, then I think that's accepting responsibility," the judge added. "And I think what we have in this instance, in your specific case, is a good man who's made a bad mistake."

Judge Stephens added, however, that Mr. Ivey should serve some time in confinement, "primarily to make amends for dishonoring our veterans."

In 2005, a month after mismanagement of the funds came to light, Mr. Ivey's lawyer gave the foundation a check for nearly $30,000, which he said was the amount Mr. Ivey owed.

But Mr. Ivey still owes more than $5,800 to the fund, according to a pre-sentencing investigation by the probation office.

As part of his sentence, he'll be required to pay that money back, plus any other money District Attorney Ken Mauldin's office can prove he still owes, Judge Stephens said.