Tuesday, a former employee of the Alabama Department of Public Health pleaded guilty for using her official position for personal gain and felony ethics violation.
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall (R) announced that Yoskio Denise Givner, age 32, of Montgomery, pleaded guilty in Montgomery County Circuit Court. The case was prosecuted by the Attorney General’s Special Prosecutions Division.
Givner admitted in her guilty plea to using her former position as an administrative assistant for the Alabama Department of Public Health to falsify travel vouchers, forging her supervisor’s name on documents requesting payment for per diem and mileage she did not earn because she did not travel. Between October 2013 and August 2016, Givner used this scheme to steal more than $15,000 from the State of Alabama.
“Public employees are entrusted to conduct themselves in the service of the people of Alabama with integrity and honor, and when that trust is violated as it was by this defendant, I am committed to prosecuting those who use their positions for illegal personal gain,” said Attorney General Marshall.
Marshall thanked the Alabama Department of Public Health for its vigilance in reviewing the illegal vouchers and its assistance in the investigation and prosecution of this case. The AG commended the Attorney General’s Special Prosecutions Division, noting in particular Assistant Attorney General Peggy Rossmanith and Special Agents for their outstanding work to achieve this conviction.
Steve Marshall is a longtime district attorney in Marshall County. He was appointed as AG by then Alabama Governor Robert Bentley (R) after Bentley appointed then AG Luther Strange (R) to the U.S. Senate seat held by Jeff Sessions. Sessions was appointed U.S. Attorney General by President Donald J Trump (R).
Marshall is running for his own term as AG in the Republican primary runoff election on July 17 against former AG Troy King (R).
The eventual winner of the Republican nomination will face Joseph Siegelman (D) in the general election on November 6.
