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Ex-St. Johns County Sheriff's Office Finance Director Gets 7 Years For Embezzlement

News4Jax
Raye Brutnell

A former finance director for the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office has been sentenced to seven years behind bars for embezzling well over a half million dollars from the department.

Raye Brutnell served as finance director from 2013 until her arrest in 2018. She pleaded guilty this past May to two counts of grand theft.

In addition to serving time in prison, WJCT News partner News4Jax reports Brutnell was also sentenced Tuesday to 10 years on probation and ordered to repay nearly $800,000.

Brutnell told investigators she used the money she stole to make car and mortgage payments and to pay for her father’s stay in a nursing home.

Contact reporter Cyd Hoskinson at choskinson@wjct.org, 904-358-6351 and on Twitter at @cydwjctnews.

Cyd Hoskinson began working at WJCT on Valentine’s Day 2011.