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?

Boxer Indicted In Red Cross Theft Scheme

Harris County prosecutors on Tuesday issued an indictment in a second case involving money funneled from the Red Cross to youth enrichment camps in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

The indictment charges Houstonian and former world champion boxer Reggie Johnson with theft, accusing him of receiving more than $120,000 in grant money for boxing camps that were scheduled for last summer but never materialized.