PANAMA CITY -- The former director of St. Andrews’ marina, who has been accused of misusing public funds, waived her right to speedy trial Thursday during a pretrial conference.
Susan Payne, 49, is charged with 12 counts of grand theft — 11 counts stem from money she allegedly took from the marina by taking payments for boat slip rentals, and one count stems from her alleged theft of a $3,500 commercial freezer. She also faces one count of witness tampering.
Payne was fired in September as the marina’s dock master after city officials found numerous deficiencies in her job performance. Records indicate she created a hostile work environment, lied to supervisors or the public, used city resources for personal gain and falsified documents.
The criminal complaints allege Payne pocketed $3,948 intended as payment for slip rentals, and then “altered or circumvented” accounting procedures to balance the marina’s books in, presumably, an attempt conceal the theft. Payne is accused of doing this 11 times, collecting somewhere between $300 and $5,000 each time.
Payne is currently out on a bond of $15,000.