Former state Sen. Rick Brinkley received 37 months in prison Friday for embezzling $1.8 million dollars from the Tulsa Better Business Bureau over nearly a decade.
He entered a guilty plea last year to five counts of wire fraud and one count of signing a false tax return, and he resigned from the Oklahoma State Senate.
Brinkley, also a minister, apparently used the money to cover gambling debts.
Brinkley’s attorneys asked the judge for probation, calling an expert to testify prison is not the place for a man with a gambling addiction. Brinkley, who had nearly two dozen supporters in the courtroom, has completed an inpatient treatment program and called himself a poster child for gambling addiction. He said casinos were his escape.
"I needed to forget the world. I needed to go someplace where no one knew me and that I could not have anyone ask me any questions, and what happened was it was a good place to escape," Brinkley said. "And then it became an addiction."
Prosecutors asked the judge for a 57-month prison sentence. U.S. Attorney Danny Williams said his office wanted people to know Brinkley would be held accountable.
"That was an issue that was kind of permeating this case, was would he be held accountable, and we did believe that part of that accountability was going to be some time incarcerated," Williams said.
Brinkley was also given three years of probation after he's released, must pay back the $1.8 million he stole from the Tulsa BBB and owes the IRS $165,000 for not reporting the money on his taxes.
The IRS helped investigate because Brinkley didn’t claim the money as income. Special Agent Kelly Carpenter said Brinkley let down his BBB colleagues, Oklahomans and American taxpayers.
"It’s not acceptable for someone to help themselves to other people’s money and violate their trust. If they do, they will be held accountable," Carpenter said. "It doesn’t matter what their position is in the community, even if you are a political official."
Brinkley must report to prison next month. The facility has not been specified, though the it should be one close to Tulsa.
