NEWPORT BEACH : Newspaper Employee Sentenced for Theft

A local newspaper employee arrested for allegedly embezzling about $20,000 from the paper last month pleaded guilty to a lesser crime and was given probation and ordered to perform community service and pay restitution for the offense.

Newport News advertising representative Laurence Michael Botts, 31, admitted that taking commissions on unsold ads was wrong but said in an interview that he only wanted to keep the struggling young paper afloat during tough economic times.

“My intention was not to rip off the Newport News. My intent was to better the News,” Botts said. “If it wasn’t for what I was doing, I don’t think any of them would have a job now.”

On Monday, Botts was given three years’ informal probation. He will have to reimburse the paper and perform 22 days of community service.

Newport News Publisher L. Kay Schrock said that the sentence was fair and that she wished Botts well. But, she said, despite his intent, he did financially hurt the paper.

“I don’t know how you can justify getting paid a commission for something that didn’t happen,” Schrock said.

She added: “He’s a very talented young man, and I hope he puts those talents to use. . . . I wish him luck.”

The ad representative was arrested in February for allegedly taking commissions from his company since October for ads that he had either given free or had placed without the advertiser’s approval.

He was originally charged with grand theft but was eventually convicted of petty theft.

No advertisers were charged for unwanted or free ads, and Schrock made personal pleas to the businesses to keep advertising--an effort that has helped the paper rebound.

Executive Editor Roger Bloom said: “Things like this set us back, but we’re basically on good footing. It’s a bump in the road.”

Botts was hired shortly after the newspaper was founded in July, and his arrest is the latest in a series of bad turns for the struggling weekly.

Last fall the newspaper was hit with a lawsuit by the Newport Beach-Costa Mesa Daily Pilot, which charged that the weekly inflated circulation figures and stole advertisers.

Coupled with the recession, the suit has drained the paper’s finances and forced it to reduce its work force to a skeleton staff, officials said.