KINGSTON — Carolyn Brewer, the former finance director for the city of Kingston, pleaded guilty to felony theft on Friday and received a sentence of three years of probation. Brewer paid $131,596.22 in restitution to the city of Kingston as part of a plea deal.
Brewer submitted her plea before Criminal Court Judge Jeff Wicks. The Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury began investigating potential fraud in June 2023 after receiving a report. Auditors identified evidence of salary and benefit overpayments dating from 2014 to June 2020.
Prosecutors, Brewer, her husband, and her attorney met to review evidence and negotiate a plea agreement after receiving the comptroller's report. The overpayments resulted in an over-credit in Brewer's retirement benefits. Brewer retired from the finance director position in June 2020. Ninth Judicial District Attorney General Russell Johnson stated, "Because of the labor-intensive review of the process of scrutinizing each individual weekly payroll and performing recalculations, the auditors had to choose 2014 as a point at which to stop, even though Brewer served in the finance director position for decades."