MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Former State Rep. Will Dismukes was convicted Friday on charges of first-degree property theft, a Class B felony.
Found guilty by a Montgomery County jury, Dismukes was accused of stealing more than $2,500 from his former employer Weiss Commercial Flooring Inc. between the years of 2016 and 2018. Charges were first introduced in 2020 during his first term representing Alabama’s 88th House District, though his trial was delayed multiple times.
The jury also found enough evidence to determine Dismukes “guilty of stealing $32,000 from the Veterans Administration Hospital in Montgomery, and $4,800 from Prattville City Hall,” according to the office of Montgomery County District Attorney Daryl Bailey.
“I am very pleased with the jury’s conviction in this case,” Bailey said in a statement. “Dismukes’ thievery cost a local business thousands of dollars in stolen revenue. This is the first time in history that a Montgomery jury has found an aggravator in a theft case. Because of this my office will be seeking significant prison time for Mr. Dismukes.”
The jury found two aggravating factors regarding Dismukes’ conviction; managing money as a fiduciary, and engaging in an elaborate scheme that involved victimizing individuals multiple times. These two factors, according to Bailey’s office, will afford Judge Brooke Reid – the judge presiding over Dismukes’ sentencing trial – the ability to sentence him to prison.
Theft in the first degree is a Class B felony in Alabama and can carry a penalty of up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $30,000.
Dismukes was first elected to the Alabama State House in 2018. Despite the charges being brought against him in 2020, he ran an unsuccessful campaign for re-election in 2022, losing to current State Rep. Jerry Starnes, R-Prattville.
Dismukes maintained his innocence as recently as December of 2022, writing in a text to Alabama Daily News “I stand by my innocence.”
His sentencing trial is scheduled for May 4, 2023.