The Villages Daily Sun has been ordered by a judge to turn over a terminated employee’s personnel file.
Lake County Judge Heidi Davis on Thursday announced her ruling on a motion from an attorney for 44-year-old Grace Mimm, who worked for many years in the circulation department of the newspaper.
Last year, attorney Mark Conan met with Villages Daily Sun Associate Publisher James Sprung, but was refused the opportunity to review documentation in Mimm’s case.
Conan filed a motion Oct. 1 seeking access to Mimm’s Daily Sun personnel file.
Mimm is facing a felony charge of grand theft. She remains free on bond.
She has maintained her innocence in the case.
In his motion, Conan indicated that information in the personnel file is “highly relevant” and “necessary” to Mimm’s defense.
“The Villages Media Group conducted its own investigation with its employees and forwarded summaries of the statements. The witness statements were obtained in a group setting in the presence of multiple state listed witnesses,” Conan wrote in the motion.
Mimm had been given a verbal warning by Sprung in January 2017 after it was discovered she had manipulated the system for her financial benefit, according to an arrest report from the Lady Lake Police Department. Mimm was a customer service supervisor and part of her commission came from signing up new customers. In June, another Daily Sun supervisor alerted Sprung that Mimm had again begun manipulating the system.
Sprung told police that during the month of May 2017, Mimm altered 34 accounts earning her $244.80 in fraudulent commissions. In June 2017, she altered 37 accounts earning her $266.40 in fraudulent commissions, according to the arrest affidavit.
Earlier this month, a publisher’s statement which appeared in the Daily Sun indicated circulation has dipped at the newspaper.
