Lebanon
JoAnne Ladd took a plea deal in Lebanon District Court and was fined $250 for the misdemeanor offense.
She must also pay restitution to Wal-Mart for some of the items taken.
Police on May 14 arrested Ladd on a theft charge after she left the Lebanon store with about $70 worth of merchandise concealed in a shoulder bag.
Her attorney, Peter Decato, in May said the charge was part of a misunderstanding and that Ladd inadvertently left the store with the items.
He said his client placed the items into her tote bag while she waited for a photo book to finish in Wal-Mart’s photography department. When the book finished and she paid for it in that department, Decato said, she forgot about the items she had placed into her bag and left.
He said the items were for a school project.
In a telephone interview on Monday, Decato said his client took a plea deal to avoid going to trial.
“She chose the lesser of two evils; she didn’t have the stomach for going to court, so she opted to take the state’s offer,” Decato said.
He said he felt the resolution to the case was the “proper outcome.”
“I respect JoAnne’s decision,” Decato said. “The state was good enough to give us an offer that was reasonable and my client took it.”
Ladd was convicted of a Class B misdemeanor, which carried a maximum penalty of a $1,200 fine.
Court documents indicate she took $68.72 worth of merchandise; she was ordered to pay $6.75 in restitution to the store.
Lebanon police prosecutor Ben LeDuc said Wal-Mart recovered most of the stolen property, so Ladd wasn’t ordered to pay restitution on those items.
LeDuc said the outcome of the case routine for an individual charged with theft who has no prior criminal record.
“This resolution is really standard,” LeDuc said in a telephone interview on Monday afternoon.
Mascoma Valley Regional School District Superintendent Patrick Andrew said on Monday that Ladd is still employed by the district.
Asked whether that could change, he said he couldn’t discuss personnel matters.
Reports of Ladd’s arrest in May generated discussion in the Mascoma Valley region on Facebook and other social media websites.
Asked on Monday whether she believed people would be comfortable with Ladd still working in her current role, School Board Chairwoman Cookie Hebert declined to answer directly.
“I can’t tell you what people would think,” Hebert said.
Ladd, a White River Junction resident who was a former administrator in the Windsor school system, has been employed at Mascoma since 2010, according to her LinkedIn profile.
She fills the associate principal role at the high school, a position equivalent to that of assistant principal.
Ladd plans to petition the court to annul the conviction in two years, per state statute, her attorney said.
Jordan Cuddemi can be reached at jcuddemi@vnews.com or 603-727-3248.