March 25, 2008, 10:52PM
 
Ex-leader of sickle cell group gets probation, jail for stealing from group

By PEGGY O'HARE
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

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, 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.

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