Mayor, wife go to jail for Little League theft

updated 5:37 p.m. ET April 19, 2008

ADELANTO, Calif. - A former mayor of a California high desert town and his wife have been sentenced to 6 months in jail for the theft of more than $20,000 from Little League coffers.

Jim Nehmens, 50, and Kelly Nehmens, 44, pleaded guilty to grand theft by embezzlement and perjury on Thursday.

The councilman and Adelanto mayor had resigned from his post on March 31, about a week before he and his wife were arrested.

The former mayor was president of the Adelanto Little League, and his wife was a board member during the years the money from the league's annual fireworks sales went missing. The money was taken over three years starting in 2004.

Nehmens attorney Grover Porter did not immediately return a call seeking comment Saturday.

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