Ex-magazine worker admits theft, gets 90 days in jail

CONWAY — A former office manager at The Oxford American has pleaded guilty to theft of property and second-degree forgery and has already made a $10,000 payment toward almost $100,000 in restitution to the literary magazine, a prosecutor said Tuesday.

Vicki Renae Maxwell entered the negotiated plea Monday in Faulkner County Circuit Court and was sentenced to 90 days in the county jail, 15 years' probation and a total restitution of $92,703.25, Prosecuting Attorney Marcus Vaden said.

The $10,000 payment has "already been delivered to the sheriff's office," Vaden said.

After Maxwell gets out of jail, she must make monthly restitution payments of $571.13 under the sentence handed down by Judge Charles E. Clawson Jr.

With 3 percent interest, Maxwell will end up paying more than $102,000 by the time she completes the restitution, Vaden said. If she fails to live up to conditions of her probation, she could go to prison, the prosecutor said.

Clawson also fined Maxwell $2,500, with half of it suspended.

Warwick Sabin, publisher of The Oxford American, said Tuesday that he is pleased with the plea arrangement.

"Renae Maxwell almost single-handedly put out of business a not-for-profit magazine with a stellar national reputation, and this case has dragged out for well over a year," Sabin said.

The prize-winning magazine, founded in 1992 in Oxford, Miss., has featured works by William Faulkner, John Updike and Charles Portis. Author John Grisham was once the publication's main benefactor and was listed as its publisher. Marc Smirnoff is the magazine's founder and editor.

Sabin thought it was important for Maxwell to admit what she did.

"I think in any situation like this, where a small business is brought to the brink of bankruptcy, the people responsible need to acknowledge their culpability. We want people to know that the magazine has rebounded from this unfortunate chapter," he said.

Maxwell's attorney, Lynn Plemmons, did not return a message seeking comment Tuesday.

Sabin, asked whether he thought the magazine would actually receive the money Maxwell has been ordered to repay, said, "All we can do is trust in the judicial system and the law-enforcement authorities to ensure that she fulfills her obligation."

Warwick said the magazine had not yet repaid a $140,000 loan from the University of Central Arkansas, where the magazine is based. The magazine has spent the past year using the limited resources it had to pay employees and keep the magazine afloat, he said.

"The university has been very understanding," Sabin said. "It's something I certainly hope we can take care of [the loan] as soon as possible because I don't want there to be any lingering doubt or debt in the magazine's future."

Vaden said prosecutors "could have forced the issue and tried to get penitentiary time, and [Maxwell] probably deserved that."

But he said, "If she has the potential to pay this back and can ... that basically gives her a second bite at the apple, gives her an opportunity to repay what she took plus some and at least attempt to repair the damage that she did to her employer."

Further, for the magazine "to continue operations, they need that money," Vaden said.

The maximum sentence Maxwell could have faced was 10 years for forgery and 20 years for theft of property.