Birmingham, AL – State Representative Sue Schmitz was arrested today on federal charges of taking $177,251 in pay from the CITY Skills Training program affiliated with Alabama's two-year college system despite doing hardly any work.
Court records show Schmitz, a Democrat from Toney, is accused of fraud in a nine-count indictment that was returned earlier this month. The legislator was arrested at her Madison County home and was released from custody on a $25,000 bond.
Schmitz was unavailable for comment. Her attorney, Buck Watson, said she will plead innocent.
Schmitz is scheduled to enter a plea during a hearing set for February 11th in Huntsville.
Schmitz is the latest in a string of state officials swept up in an investigation of the Alabama Department of Postsecondary Education.
The former head of the system, Roy Johnson, agreed to plead guilty and assist investigators in a deal made public last week. In all, eight people have either pleaded guilty or been convicted in the probe.
Schmitz is best known for introducing a bill to give Alabama a new official insect by replacing the monarch butterfly with the queen honey bee. The measure died on the final days of the 2005 session.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)