The wife of a former elected commissioner of King County Drainage District No. 5 was sentenced Friday after being found guilty of stealing district taxpayer money. JoAnn Thomas was sentenced to three years in federal prison following three years of supervised release. Thomas was also fined $1,500. Former elected commissioner Allan “Benny” Thomas was scheduled to be sentenced Friday as well, but the hearing was postponed until February. The U.S. District Court in Seattle will consider the prosecutor’s request that the couple pay $468,000 in restitution at a hearing later in January. Allan 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. JoAnn Thomas was found guilty on all 15 counts, including a second count of aggravated identity theft and four counts of money laundering. 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 Allan 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/wife-former-king-county-drainage-district-commissioner-sentenced/281-17dbda47-d3c1-4287-bc8d-873ea63663d7