Dancer gets 20 years, suspended
by Brent Shrum, Kootenai Valley Record
February 12, 2010
Former Libby businessman William Dancer was sentenced Friday to 20 years probation and ordered to pay back nearly $200,000 that a jury found he embezzled while working for Idaho-based Independence Home Center in 2005 and 2006.
Dancer was convicted of three counts of felony theft by embezzlement in September. Sentencing had been scheduled for December, but was delayed after Dancer suffered a severe heart attack and was hospitalized for several days in Spokane, Wash.
"Mr. Dancer, I don’t want to give you another heart attack, so I’m going to tell you right up front here I’m not going to send you to prison," Judge Michael Prezeau said after listening to Dancer’s testimony. "I’m not happy with you, I must say."
A report prepared by a probation officer had recommended a sentence of 10 years in prison with seven of those years suspended. After telling Dancer he was giving a probationary sentence, Prezeau said it could have been "a different story" were it not for the health problems that could lead to the taxpayers picking up Dancer’s medical bills if he were sent to prison.
Dancer told Prezeau he is at risk for another heart attack and is a possible candidate for a heart transplant. He’s also being treated for diabetes and high blood pressure, he said. A letter from Dancer’s doctor detailing his condition had previously been entered into Dancer’s court file.
"They tell me I was lucky to have actually survived it," Dancer told Prezeau.
During Friday’s hearing, Prezeau expressed skepticism about Dancer’s explanations for a past bad check conviction in Colorado and a letter from a former employer accusing Dancer of being involved in a real estate scam. He was also wary of Dancer’s current venture, a business selling advertising in coupon books for nonprofit organizations.
Prezeau called Dancer’s plans to expand the business from three to 15 employees and set up a branch in the Seattle area "a recipe for disaster."
The judge told Dancer he should use his talents to be a good employee rather than letting greed get the best of him. He noted that Dancer had an excellent opportunity with Independence Home Center, but threw it away by overextending himself by opening other businesses on the side and betraying the trust of his employer.
"It seems like you want too much too fast, and you wind up in a situation where you’re robbing Peter to pay Paul," Prezeau said.
Dancer was initially tried last March on six counts of theft by embezzlement and one count of money laundering, but the jury in that case was unable to reach a unanimous verdict and a mistrial was declared. He was accused of funneling customer payments through his own bank accounts while working as Independence Home Center’s local salesman.
Shortly before Dancer’s second trial in September, the prosecution dropped all but three embezzlement charges. Each charge related to a single customer payment that was deposited in a bank account opened by Dancer in Independence Home Center’s name, allegedly without the knowledge or permission of his employers.
Prosecuting attorney Marcia Boris characterized the case as one of "trust, opportunity and greed," in which Dancer took advantage of the trust placed in him by Independence Home Center. Defense attorney Scott Hilderman, however, argued that the case was an example of a bad business deal between Dancer and Independence Home Center and suggested that Dancer may have misunderstood the agreement he had with his employers.
Prezeau sentenced Dancer to the maximum term of 10 years on each of the three counts of embezzlement, with two of the sentences running concurrently and one running consecutively. The entire sentence was suspended.
"We can call these only property crimes if you want, but you stole a lot of money here, and that money represents a lot of hard work by people and a lot of dreams as well," Prezeau told Dancer.
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Editor’s Note: See the February 9, 2010 edition of the Kootenai Valley Record for the printed version of this story. The Kootenai Valley Record publishes once a week, on Tuesdays, in Libby, Montana. They are a locally owned community newspaper, located at 403 Mineral Avenue in Libby. For in-county and out-of-county subscription information, call 406-293-2424, or e-mail kvrecord@gmail.com.
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