A former employee in U.S. Rep. Ernest Istook's re- election campaign office was charged Thursday with five felony counts and one misdemeanor count of embezzlement.
Jeremy Vaughn Pinson, 17, Oklahoma City, is accused in Oklahoma County District Court of stealing more than $21,000 from the re-election campaign office at 712 N Broadway Ave.

Pinson had worked part- time in the campaign office for less than a month as a network administrator, picking up supplies and equipment and assisting in the daily operations, according to a court affidavit.

District Attorney Wes Lane said he was able to file on Pinson as an adult because he has six felony convictions as an adult in another state.

Pinson was convicted March 17 in North Carolina of breaking and entering, larceny after breaking and entering and four counts of financial transaction card theft.

The convictions stem from a break in and theft from the campaign office of North Carolina Rep. Sue Myrick. He was a volunteer in Myrick's campaign.

"Without those convictions, I would have had to file on him as a juvenile," Lane said. "He would have been in the juvenile system in theory a couple of years."

If convicted as an adult on the new charges, Pinson could be sentenced to prison up to five years and fined up to $5,000 on each felony embezzlement crime.

The checks and money were discovered missing after Debra Pinson, the defendant's mother, became concerned that her son had large amounts of money and campaign checks, court documents state.

Kyle D. Loveless, the campaign manager, then found his signature had been forged on the checks that had been cashed, the affidavit states. The checks ranged from $266.85 to $14,002.