A former elected commissioner of King County Drainage District No. 5 found guilty of stealing district taxpayer money was sentenced Friday. Allan “Benny” Thomas, 70, received a sentence of 2.5 years in federal prison and three years of supervised release. Thomas and his wife JoAnn faced 15 federal charges including conspiracy and money laundering. Thomas, who previously denied that he used more than $450,000 in tax money collected by the public district to pay expenses for his Enumclaw dairy farm, was found guilty on 10 of 15 charges, including conspiracy, four counts each of wire and mail fraud, and one count of aggravated identity theft. “You were not just milking cows, you were milking the community," said Judge Richard Jones at Thomas' sentencing in federal court in Seattle. JoAnn Thomas was found guilty on all 15 counts, including a second count of aggravated identity theft and four counts of money laundering. She was previously sentenced to three years in federal prison following three years of supervised release and fined $1,500. Allan Thomas was the longtime, elected commissioner of King County Drainage District No. 5 near Enumclaw and was responsible for maintaining nearly 20 miles of open trenches that provide drainage to the farmland outside the city. Records show that various public agencies were tipped that Thomas may have been misappropriating the $70,000 to $80,000 per year in taxes that the drainage district collects from landowners to clean the open trenches and keep stormwater flowing. But none took action beyond a vague warning. READ THE FULL STORY: https://www.king5.com/article/news/investigations/drainage-districts/former-king-county-commissioner-sentenced-scheme-steal-taxpayer-money/281-2c891c84-91c9-4b91-876d-197242ca7b43