Former Centre attorney Rodney Stallings has been given a 15 year split sentence, with two years to serve, followed by five years probation; he will be given credit for time served, and will be required to pay restitution in the amount of $328,246.50. The sentence was handed down by Judge Shaunathan Bell on Monday morning in Cherokee County Circuit Court.

Last November following a recess of only around ten minutes the jury had returned a guilty verdict against Stallings for First Degree Theft from the State Fair Trial Tax Fund.

The Attorney General’s Office presented evidence that Stallings stole more than $328,000 – by intentionally filing 246 false fee declarations for indigent defense cases, in which he was not entitled to receive payment. According to a news release from Attorney General Luther Strange, Stallings never appeared as counsel in some of the cases, and in others he made up case numbers.

Strange said the criminal acts occurred between 2006 and 2012 – Stallings was suspended by the bar association in 2012. The Attorney General went on to say – (quote) “…the crime involved a calculated and callous theft over many years – taking hundreds of thousands of scarce dollars from a fund that was intended to compensate attorneys who provide service to those in need.” (end-quote)

Stallings has been held in the County Jail since his trial last November and will immediately begin his prison term.

He does however, still have two outstanding cases. One on Theft by Deception 1st Degree, which started here in Cherokee County; and one on Forgery 2nd Degree in Calhoun County.

Those cases are tentatively set for April.