Oklahoma woman admits embezzling money from fundraiser

Robin Faulkenberry

ARDMORE, Okla. (AP) – An Oklahoma woman has pleaded guilty to one count of embezzlement after she admitted keeping money that was intended for the funeral expenses of a murder victim.

Robin Faulkenberry entered the blind plea Wednesday in Carter County District Court. Prosecutors had accused her of taking more than $5,000 from an online fundraiser she’d started to pay the funeral costs for Stormy Lusk, who was killed in June 2015 in Ardmore.

The Daily Ardmoreite reports (http://bit.ly/2lHbtUT ) Faulkenberry turned over a cashier’s check Wednesday to prosecutors to repay the money she’d taken. District Attorney Craig Ladd says the money will reimburse the state’s victims’ compensation fund, which paid Lusk’s funeral costs after the online fundraiser money went missing.

Faulkenberry faces up to five years in prison when she is sentenced next month.