Former Atlanta official sentenced on embezzlement charges

ATLANTA - A former Atlanta transportation official was sentenced Thursday to serve two years and six months in federal prison and to pay $446,926 in restitution to the city on federal charges that he embezzled more than $400,000 over a three-year period. <br> <br> Jonathan Dodd, former director of Atlanta&#39;s Bureau of Motor Transport Services, also was ordered by U.S. District Judge Richard Storey to perform 240 hours of community service and serve three years of supervised release. <br> <br> The 40-year-old Dodd pleaded guilty in June to embezzling from late 1999 to February 2002 and failing to report the stolen money as income in tax filings. <br> <br> He admitted using the money, which he diverted from the city&#39;s general fund to checking and savings accounts under his control, to travel, build and renovate houses and buy jewelry, clothes, furniture and more than $17,000 in professional basketball season tickets. <br> <br> Dodd could have been sentenced to a maximum of 13 years in prison and a fine of up to $500,000.