Ex-Probation Officers Charged

GILMER — Two former Upshur County assistant juvenile probation officers who were indicted on felony charges last September have been placed on probation after pleading guilty to reduced charges of misdemeanor tampering with government record, District Attorney Billy Byrd said Friday night.

Lorie Ann Davidson and Sandra Diane Edwards were each placed on one year’s “deferred adjudication” probation and fined $500 by visiting Judge Joe Clayton after separately pleading guilty to multiple counts of the misdemeanor offense under a plea bargain, Byrd said. They were sentenced in 115th District Court. Deferred adjudication means no final conviction appears on a defendant’s record if he/she completes probation.

The women and then-chief juvenile probation officer Milton Wylie were indicted Sept. 1 on felony charges of forgery of government document. The charges involved documents that the Upshur juvenile probation office gave the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission, Byrd said.

Wylie pleaded guilty to one count of the same reduced misdemeanor charge Dec. 13. He also was placed on one-year deferred adjudication probation, and resigned his post of 11 years.

The two Gilmer women, who worked under Wylie, left the probation department before their indictments. Davidson, 43, pleaded guilty to nine counts while Edwards, 49, pleaded guilty to four, Byrd’s office reported.