Sickle Cell Association Theft

Some crimes are just sickening:

A former executive director for the Sickle Cell Association of the Texas Gulf Coast was formally sentenced Tuesday after being convicted of stealing thousands of dollars from the nonprofit agency.

Kenneth Garrett Beatty, 42, was placed on 10 years' probation and ordered to serve six months in the Harris County Jail. A jury in state District Judge Susan Brown's court convicted Beatty last week of a lesser offense of third-degree felony theft, rejecting the original charge — theft of more than $200,000 — which could have landed Beatty in prison for life.

A second defendant charged in the case, Willie Carlean Cruse, 49, of Crosby, who previously served as the agency's financial director, has already pleaded guilty to theft of more than $200,000 and will be sentenced by Brown next month.

How low can one stoop?