SAN ANTONIO – The former treasurer of an East Central Independent School District booster club pleaded no contest Tuesday in an unrelated felony fraud case and can avoid prison if she pays back more than $201,000 in restitution by early next year, court records obtained by the KSAT 12 Defenders show.
Ashlee Ring faces a maximum of 10 years in prison, according to a copy of her plea agreement signed Tuesday in 144th District Court.
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If half of the restitution, $100,813.90, is paid back by her sentencing hearing on Jan. 18, prosecutors will recommend Ring be given community supervision but will oppose her application for deferred adjudication.
If the full amount of restitution, $201,627.80, is paid back in time for sentencing, prosecutors will recommend Ring be given community supervision and will “remain silent” regarding her application for deferred adjudication. This means they will not contest her application.
As part of the plea agreement, Ring was ordered to pay back a victim in her first case more than $157,000.
In that case, Ring left behind almost $200,000 in credit card bills and had illegally used the cards for personal use, including buying property at one point, while she worked for a San Antonio property management group, a victim previously told the Defenders.
Former East Central booster club treasurer faces money laundering, felony theft charges
The victim said Ring worked as the company’s vice-president and manipulated funds between the company and multiple apartments over a five-year period.
Ring was indicted by a Bexar County grand jury in October 2019 on one count of misapplication of fiduciary property between $150,000 and $300,000 and one count of theft between $150,000 and $300,000, court records show.
In her more recent case, Ring was accused of taking tens of thousands of dollars from ECISD’s Future Farmers of America booster club.
She was eventually indicted earlier this year on four felony counts, ranging from charges of misapplication of fiduciary property, to theft and money laundering.
Charging paperwork states Ring carried out that scheme between September 2018 and March 2020.
Ring had been serving as treasurer of the district’s FFA/agriculture booster club, despite being under indictment in the unrelated felony fraud case, public records confirm.
As part of Tuesday’s plea agreement, Ring must pay back the FFA/agriculture booster club more than $44,000.
District officials confirmed the booster club investigation in January and said, at the time, that the club’s affiliation with ECISD had been suspended while the investigation took place.
District officials have not said if the club’s affiliation with the district has since been reinstated.
A district spokesman said Tuesday no arrangements have been made to begin receiving restitution payments from Ring.