Probation should be the sentence for a former U.S. Department of Interior Fish and Wildlife employee who pleaded guilty to theft of government money and property in connection with $35,000 in personal purchases charged to a government credit card over a four-year period, his attorney argued.

Scott Poland, 57, of Kauai is scheduled to be sentenced today before U.S. Senior Judge Helen Gillmor after he was indicted March 10, 2022, on 45 counts of theft of government money and property. He is facing up to 10 years in federal prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of probation.

Poland has a 2002 theft conviction in California, where he served 60 days in jail and probation, according to court records.

Poland’s attorney, First Assistant Federal Defender Craig Jerome, argued in a sentencing memorandum filed March 8 that he accepted responsibility for his crimes, has abided by the conditions of his supervised release, is employed by the state of Hawaii and is excelling in college, where he is completing an undergraduate degree.

Poland, a Beaver, Pa., native, is a Navy veteran who served eight years as a corpsman, including a year spent in Iraq and Saudi Arabia. He faced intense pressure to provide for his family after a medical issue forced his wife to retire in 2015, Jerome said in his memo.

“Mr. Poland’s unauthorized use of his credit card also increased during this period. Records provided by the government show that Mr. Poland made two unauthorized purchases in 2013, and ten in 2014. Those purchases increased in both 2015 and 2016 before really ramping up in 2017, after the Polands were evicted from the residence where they had been living,” the memo said.

Jerome characterized the unauthorized purchases at “mundane” in nature, including self-storage fees, utility and cellphone bills and car repairs. “While certainly inexcusable and criminal, Mr. Poland’s conduct was not funding an extravagant or indulgent lifestyle.”

Jerome asked Gillmor to follow a probation office’s recommendation of three years of probation, a special assessment of $200 and $35,000 in restitution to the Fish and Wildlife Service.

Jerome and Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig Nolan, who is prosecuting the case for the government, did not immediately reply to requests for comment.

Poland accepted a plea agreement Oct. 31 that required him to plead guilty to a March 17, 2017, charge in the amount of $309.96 for a Lawai Cannery Self-Storage unit leased by Poland for his personal use and making an unauthorized purchase on a government credit card Aug. 9, 2017, in the amount of $1,231.14 to fix his car at Gary’s Service Inc. in Lihue, according to federal court records. He also agreed to pay the recommended restitution.

In exchange the government agreed to dismiss the other 43 charges after sentencing.

The Fish and Wildlife Service employed Poland from 2013 to 2017 as a budget clerk in Hawaii. He was assigned a government credit card issued by JP Morgan Chase and was permitted to make “authorized government travel purchases and cash advances,” according to court documents.

In September 2017, Poland’s purchase authority was revoked after officials discovered the unauthorized purchases. When confronted, Poland told his supervisor, “What do you want me to do? I’m being paid as a GS-4, and I can’t make it.”

He admitted “that some of the charges were personal,” and resigned Dec. 20, 2017, before he could be fired, according to court documents.

Between May 2013 and September 2017, the government covered Poland’s personal charges, which included “fees for the defendant’s self-storage unit, repairs to his personal vehicle, a rental car while his personal vehicle was being repaired, utility bills for his residence, personal cellphone bills, and merchandise from retail stores.”

The charges were as small as $26.03 at Island Ace Hardware and as large as the car repair bill at Gary’s Service Inc.

“I was entrusted with public money and used it for my personal use and for this I am truly sorry,” wrote Poland in a Nov. 20 letter to Gillmor.