LAKE ANDES-The former director of the Mid-Central Educational Cooperative was granted a suspended imposition of sentence Monday afternoon for charges stemming from a contract he backdated several years ago.
Dozens of family members, friends and colleagues of Dan Guericke, 61, of White Lake, were present for the sentencing at the Charles Mix County Courthouse in Lake Andes, and excerpts from letters of support from more were read by Guericke's attorney, Mike Butler.
"I want to do everything I can not to misplace that and to be worthy of it," Guericke said.
Although his sentence will be suspended and the suspended imposition will be sealed by the court, Guericke was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine and $104 in court costs and to partially reimburse the state for transcription costs. Suspended imposition of sentence means Guericke will not spend any time in jail or prison if he abides by the terms ordered by the court.
Guericke pleaded guilty to one count of falsifying evidence on Sept. 28 at the Douglas County Courthouse as part of a plea bargain. The state dropped five additional felony charges.
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Guericke was convicted of that charge, which was brought against him in connection with a backdated contract between the Mid-Central and the American Indian Institute for Innovation for the 2013-14 school year, on that same day.
Attorney General Marty Jackley said during the sentencing hearing that the state was pleased that Guericke had satisfied the condition of the plea agreement that required him to help with the investigation.
Judge Bruce Anderson said that Guericke's was a case that "reeks of suspended imposition of sentence" and that, based on his perception of Guericke's character and the outcome in the trials for the two other people charged in the GEAR UP case, it wouldn't be fair to impose any substantial form of punishment. Anderson said that Guericke's remorseful attitude in court led him to believe that Guericke had already punished himself enough.
"You seem to me to be a good man of good character and an excellent public servant," Anderson said to Guericke.
Guericke's wife, Jane Guericke, said at the sentencing hearing that her husband had never intended to commit a crime
"His main goal was always to serve the children of the district and their families," she said. "... Because he is trustworthy, he tends to believe others are trustworthy."
Events leading up to Guericke's suspended imposition of sentence began in September 2015, when investigators found through financial records that Scott and Nicole Westerhuis, business manager and assistant business manager, respectively, for Mid-Central, had stolen more than $1 million of what was intended to be college-readiness funding for Native American students.
Hours after the state informed Mid-Central that it would be losing its $4.3 million federal contract for GEAR UP, Scott Westerhuis shot Nicole Westerhuis and their four children, then set fire to their house and killed himself.
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Six months later, Guericke, former Mid-Central business employee Stephanie Hubers and former AIII CEO Stacy Phelps, were all charged in connection with the scandal.
At the end of her trial in June, Hubers was acquitted of grand theft, grand theft by deception and alternative receiving stolen property charges. In October, Phelps was found not guilty of falsifying evidence and conspiring to offer forged or fraudulent evidence. Guericke was originally scheduled to be a Phelps' co-defendant, but instead testified during the trial.
