Published Monday, January 12, 2009 11:20 AM
Romei gets 90 days in jail, ordered to pay $268,000
A district judge sentenced former arts director P. David Romei to 90 days in jail as a condition of his probation stemming from a felony theft conviction.
He must also pay $268,000 restitution, an amount agreed upon by lawyers on both sides prior to District Judge Steve Smith’s ruling. He may serve less jail time if a proportion of restitution has been paid by May 1, when he is set to begin serving his sentence.
He also must make a public apology in The Eagle to the city of College Station and the Arts Council of Brazos Valley.
Romei was found guilty by a jury in November of theft of $7,400 from city of College Station that was money paid to the Arts Council. He also was convicted of a misdemeanor — misapplication of fiduciary funds.
He was acquitted of several other charges.
Comments
10 comment(s) found!
Posted by:
On:
Tuesday, January 13, 2009 5:48 AM
Comment Title:
You are welcome.
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Posted by:
On:
Monday, January 12, 2009 11:59 PM
Comment Title:
Thanks
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Posted by:
On:
Monday, January 12, 2009 11:58 PM
Comment Title: City Council
Maybe the City Council does not ever want to see Mr. Romei again and prefers that he not show his face in their chambers. Public apologies in newspapers to crime victims are not great resume builders. It is also common for conditions of community supervision to require letters of apology, approved by the offender's community supervision officer, be sent to crime victims. That may be the case for Mr. Romei. He needs to buy a good supply of paper and pens if so.
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Posted by:
On:
Monday, January 12, 2009 11:54 PM
Comment Title: Repayment
Each $30,000 of restitution paid by May 1, 2009 reduces his jail time by 30 days down to 30 days served on weekends per a story on the KBTX web site which is a bit more complete. This is a 5 year term of community supervision, the maximum allowed for a State Jail Felony. The maximum amount of time an offender can serve in County Jail as a condition of community supervision is 180 days. If Romei ponies up the dollars and gets his 90 days down to 30 days served on weekends, he will likely check in Friday nights and check out Monday mornings and get credit for 4 days served on those weekends. If he does not report as scheduled for those weekends, assuming he pays enough restitution that quickly, he can be jailed and serve whatever is remaining of that 30-90 day term day to day without the weekend option. There is no way Judge Smith can send Mr. Romei to prison instead of county jail as this is a state jail felony. It seems wise that Judge Smith reserved 90 days for future use by the Community Supervision Department should Mr. Romei prove to the Court in the future that he needs to be reminded that he is a common criminal and that a trip to jail for some or all of those 90 days might be a modification in the future if needed. Judge Smith applied the law very wisely in this case. Bill Turner did his job well. The laws are complicated and are not going to be well explained by the Eagle, or even understood by its reporters.
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Posted by:
On:
Monday, January 12, 2009 10:21 PM
Comment Title:
I wonder what was the deciding factor in having Romei apologize in The Eagle, and Paul Urso, the College Station bribe taker, had to apologize in person to the city council.
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Posted by:
On:
Monday, January 12, 2009 10:07 PM
Comment Title:
How much is the "proportion" that must be paid by May 1st. to reduce his sentence? I wonder if the College Station city council is going to thank him for agreeing to repay the money he screwed the public out of?
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Posted by:
On:
Monday, January 12, 2009 9:58 PM
Comment Title:
This College Station business man sold his house on Innsbruck Circle in Edelweiss just before his indictment. I wonder if he has any left for restitution after paying his attorney.
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Posted by:
On:
Monday, January 12, 2009 6:32 PM
Comment Title: Judge Smith / DA Bill Turner
Both Judge Smith and DA Bill Turner have done much to restore the public's confidence in the criminal justice system. It is very interesting that attorneys on both sides agreed on the amount of restitution. The additional conditions of community supervision, including the 90 days in jail, which must be served on a day for day basis, are very appropriate. That the attorneys negotiated the amount of restitution might cause a false sense of security in me that this case will not be appealed. I certainly hope it is not. As for Mr. Romei, pay it back, do your time, finish your community supervision, and think twice before you try to con any community out of its money. Brazos County has shown once again, that crime really does not pay here. Thank you Judge Smith and Bill Turner and all of those law enforcement people who spent countless hours building the case against Mr. Romei.
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Posted by:
On:
Monday, January 12, 2009 4:46 PM
Comment Title:
Hey Romei, tell your niece if she remembers the trip now, so she can help you pay some of that money back.
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Posted by:
piggypop On:
Monday, January 12, 2009 1:38 PM
Comment Title: white collar thug
thats what he gets hope they get him in jail
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