Former Sardis City clerk pleads guilty

Sardis City’s former town clerk pleaded guilty last week to a charge of first-degree theft of city funds.

Douglas Harold Gamblin was arrested in June 2015 after discrepancies were discovered and investigated in the town and municipal court finances.

The prosecution recommended a 15-year sentence. However, Gamblin received a 24-month split sentence, diverted to Community Corrections, to be followed by three years supervised probation.

He must begin paying $100 a month toward court costs, fees and restitution, to be submitted in an affidavit within 60 days, on May 1.

At the time of Gamblin’s arrest, Etowah County Investigator Josh Morgan said $13,000 was known to be missing and not all city records had been examined at that point.

Gamblin resigned from his job in April 2015, after questions were raised about city deposits. He had served as town clerk for about 20 years.

Morgan said discrepancies in money taken in and money deposited, and municipal court records, came to light during a period when Gamblin was out of work because of an accident. The town magistrate and the mayor had to handle paying bills and other duties Gamblin usually performed, and they discovered some numbers were not matching up.

After Gamblin’s resignation, the town called for a special audit. Town officials talked to the Etowah County District Attorney’s Office, and at that point, the sheriff’s office began to investigate.