Former Whitley County Auditor Jennifer McGuire was sentenced to four years in jail Monday for stealing from the county and the Indiana Auditors Association, and she is required to pay the state for a comprehensive auditor’s report conducted in 2014. Whitley County Prosecutor Matt Rentschler said McGuire received a four-year sentence from Judge James Heuer in Whitley County Superior Court to the Whitley County Jail for theft of more than $100,000 in county funds, from May 18, 2011, to July 24, 2014, a Class C felony. She is eligible for work release and is employed. For charges of theft from the Indiana County Auditor’s Association, she received an additional 1-1/2-year sentence to be served consecutive to the four-year sentence, which was suspended and is to be served on probation. One stipulation of the probation is she pay back $25,000 taken from the association. For count three, official misconduct by an elected official, McGuire received a concurrent 1-1/2-year sentence. The state auditor’s costs for its special investigation and report was given as $27,666 in a final document released Feb. 2. These costs are also to be returned. Rentschler said mitigating factors in the case included McGuire’s leaving office voluntarily in July and pleading guilty to all three counts without a trial. McGuire has paid $102,000 in restitution to the county.
