Ex-superintendent gets 8 years for stealing from Clyde-Green Springs district

1/22/2010

FREMONT - Former Clyde-Green Springs Schools Superintendent Todd Helms was sentenced Friday to eight years in prison for stealing nearly $300,000 from the district over a five-year period.

Sandusky County Common Pleas Judge Barbara Ansted also ordered Helms to pay $380,644 in restitution to the school district he led from 2002 to 2008. The restitution amount includes the cost of the investigation and the state audit.

In November, Helms, 45, of Tiffin, pleaded guilty to theft in office, engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, tampering with records, filing a false or fraudulent tax return, and six counts of theft. Nine other charges were dismissed as part of a plea agreement.

Prosecutors said Helms created fictitious companies and signed off on invoices for those companies, deposited checks from the school district and school boosters club into his own account, and took money from a number of other booster and parent organizations.