I feel like a fool.

I’ll admit it. I liked Wanda Greene. I loved that we had a woman as a county manager. I applauded her for earning her doctorate degree. As a reporter, I interviewed her a number of times and I found her to be kind, helpful, and just nice. I didn’t know that some of the employees of the county saw a different side of her – one that they say was vindictive, controlling, threatening.

I was stunned when the first charges against her were filed. Surely there must be an explanation; it has to be a misunderstanding. And then the charges kept coming. Tax fraud. Insurance scheme. And now the latest: kickbacks and bribes.

Today as she made her way into the federal courthouse to hear the latest charges against her, I had a chance to say something to her:

And now my heart is broken. Sure, I was surprised when assistant county manager Jon Creighton was indicted as well. I didn’t expect it. But I didn’t work with him a lot. Some of the engineers who were at the courthouse today can tell you tales about their workings with him. They’re were not on hand to lend him their support.

No. My heart is broken because of the third person charged: the head of the Department of Social Services. Mandy Stone has headed that agency for decades, overseeing the services that are devoted to caring for the most broken and hurting in our community – the elderly, the abused, the poor & disenfranchised. Along the way, she picked up extra duties as an assistant county manager and then when Greene retired amid the cloud of controversy, she was tapped to be the county manager.

As the investigation unfolded, I heard whispers. “No, it can’t be,” I would respond. “I know Mandy. She’s a good person. She’s ethical. She would never do something like that.” Then came her abrupt retirement and more whispers about searches of her office and such. Please, I thought, don’t let this be true.

And then came the charges: kickbacks and bribes – repeated trips to Key West, other locations. No, not to the degree to which Greene and Creighton are charged. She didn’t make the trip to Budapest or Vienna. But she’s accused of making trips; and billing the county taxpayers for meals and travel expenses that prosecutors say she never incurred.

I’m angry and hurt and so very disappointed. I don’t know her story; her why. She isn’t talking.

She refused to make eye contact. When I entered the tiny courtroom, she was seated on a back bench, pushed up against the wall as far as she could go, arms wrapped around herself. It looked to me as if she just wanted to disappear.

She – and the others – are innocent until proven guilty. That’s the law. I sure hope that proves to be true but prosecutors have laid out some damning evidence in their indictments.

We should be outraged at all of this mess. And I am. Yet as I sat in that courtroom looking at these three people, I found myself still naively hoping it was all just a big misunderstanding. After all they don’t look like villains; they look like our neighbors.

I know. I’m a fool for thinking that too.