Former Lebanon police officer Ronnie "Kyle" Randleman, 36, was sentenced to 10 days in jail after pleading guilty in Linn County Circuit Court on Jan. 9 to stealing $8,500 from the Oregon School Resource Officers Association (OSROA).

Randleman served as OSROA treasurer from 2006 through 2008 while assigned as the school resource officer at Lebanon High School.

He resigned from the Lebanon Police Department on July 14, 2008, after an investigation determined that he had an inappropriate relationship with an 18-year-old student. No criminal charges were filed. He started with the LPD in 2001 as a reserve officer, becoming full-time in 2003.

OSROA is a nonprofit organization that provides support and training to school resource officers in Oregon.

After Randleman resigned as treasurer, a review of his record books showed large discrepancies and the findings were turned over to the Oregon State Police, said Ernest Whiteman, OSROA president.

The OSROA board of directors has since changed accounting procedures to ensure more oversight.

"Obviously, we at OSROA learned a hard lesson from this," Whiteman said. "We had believed - being mostly police officers - this type of thing would not happen to us. We were very disappointed by all this."

Investigators determined that between 2006 and 2008 Randleman withdrew money 47 times for his own personal use from both an OSROA bank account and an online PayPal account, said Linn County Deputy District Attorney Heidi Sternhagen.

The DA's office charged Randleman with four counts of first-degree theft, but dropped two counts as part of a plea agreement.

After completing his jail sentence, Randleman will be on 18-months probation and must serve five days of community service. He paid $8,500 in restitution before his sentencing. First-degree theft is a Class C felony punishable by up to five years in prison and a $125,000 fine.

Sternhagen said even though Randleman had no previous criminal history, she asked for jail time because he was a police officer at the time he embezzled the funds.

"Those of us in law enforcement are held to a higher standard," Sternhagen said. "It's important for the community to trust that when officers are on the stand or out doing their job that they are being truthful."