Embezzling Bookkeeper Sentenced To Decade In Jail
Court Mandated Restitution Was Also Part Of A Plea Deal

Tammy Jo Saucier, former Doctor’s Inlet Elementary bookkeeper turned scofflaw, has agreed to plea bargain for her crimes. Saucier was accused of stealing nearly $100k from the school. When her theft was discovered, Saucier ran from the law and shot at the Sheriff’s deputies who were attempting to arrest her.
Saucier has been in jail since her arrest early in 2024 and has tried several legal maneuvers to elicit leniency from the court. To shift the blame for her crimes to an addiction to pain killers, Saucier penned several letters to the judge presiding over her case. In the letters, she lamented what she perceived as unfair plea offers from the prosecution and asked to be released on probation as her addiction to painkillers caused her to act out of character.
Ultimately, Saucier’s calls for leniency were to no avail, and she accepted a plea bargain with a 10-year sentence for the attempted murder of the Sheriff’s Deputies. Curiously, the two separate counts of theft garnered measly sentences of just over 100 days of imprisonment and an order to pay restitution to the school district. Judge James Kallaher also included a letter requesting Saucier be assigned to a corrections facility that will give her access to educational and vocational programs.
Saucier sentences will run concurrently; if she serves the entire term, her release date will be 1/19/2034. She is currently being housed at the women’s detention center in Ocala.
To date, the Clay County School District has yet to acknowledge Saucier’s crimes to the Doctor’s Inlet parents and staff. The parents and staff have hosted fundraisers and other activities to re-pay vendors and refill the school’s drained accounts, but it appears, per the court order, the restitution will be paid to the School District.
The court rulings provided a financial windfall to the school district at the expense of parents and staff at Doctor’s Inlet. The plea bargain also means the people impacted by Saucier’s crimes didn’t have an opportunity to speak at her sentencing.
While Saucier has received justice for her crimes, the courts and school district have successfully prevented the real victims from having an opportunity to have their voices heard.
It would be interesting to explore whether the affected groups, which I assume are various booster groups and extra curricular / athletic club, have grounds for legal action / remedy from the school board.
As far as I know, these groups are required to run their finances through school bookkeepers who are school board employees - seems an action for negligent hiring, inadequate supervision, failure to account for funds, improper / no checks / balances...
So noise made along those lines might motivate the school board to rethink trying to disown responsibility...who knows, I'm not a lawyer.
I suspect the so-called "financial windfall" may in fact be strictly illusory. Perp Tammy Jo likely has little $ to actually pay restitution owing to her manifold shortcomings and serial poor decision-making episodes.
Tammy Jo is in jail now, and headed to prison; so her income-earning potential in the foreseeable future is, um, well, pretty much zero.