Level Plains Magistrate Pleads Guilty to Theft

By Michelle Mann
Ledger Staff Writer

A former Level Plains Magistrate remains free on bond after pleading guilty to a theft charge in Dale County Circuit Court Tuesday.

Marsha M. Neagley, 60, of Ozark was sentenced to three years in the state penitentary by Circuit Judge P.B. McLaughlin. She was sentenced after pleading guilty to one count of first-degree theft and one count of use of position for personal gain. She remains free on bond pending a probation hearing which she has requested, Dale County District Attorney Kirke Adams confirmed Friday.

Neagley had served as town magistrate for 25 years and was arrested October 3, 2008, after an investigation revealed some $4,000 was missing from the town.

Adams said a citizen who had paid an assessed fine reported to authorities that records indicated the fine had not been paid.

Alabama Bureau of Investigation officers and state auditors were called in to aid in the investigation, Adams explained. “They, at one point, described her ‘filing system’, as a “piling system,” Adams said.

Neagley has made restitution to the town, he added.