The former bookkeeper for Eugene Weekly, Elisha Young, has been sentenced to three years in prison and two years of supervised release.
Dozens of people packed into a small room in Lane County Circuit Court Wednesday morning to watch the decision.
Eugene Weekly editor Camilla Mortensen brought several of her journalism students. Her hands shook as she read a victim impact statement to Young.
“You knew that your actions were basically destroying the newspaper that employed you,” said Mortensen. “You made sure every last dollar the Weekly had went to feed your addictions.”
Prosecutors accused Young of stealing more than $138,000 from the Weekly between July 2021 and December 2023.
They said she took the money by writing checks to herself, paying her personal accounts, withdrawing funds, and fraudulently increasing her own salary.
Mortensen told KLCC that’s just what could be proven as embezzlement in court, but she believes the losses were much greater.
In December 2023, the Weekly announced it was laying off its staff and pausing printing, citing these losses. But it later recovered following a successful community fundraising effort.
Young was then extradited from Ohio to stand trial. In March, she pleaded guilty to theft and aggravated theft.
In court Wednesday, Young asked the judge to delay her sentencing because of custody concerns for her child, but that request was denied.
Young’s lawyer, Brian Walker, said she cared deeply for the Weekly. He said she had struggled with cocaine abuse and was sorry for her actions.
After Young left the courtroom in handcuffs, several former and current Weekly staff members hugged each other. Speaking to reporters outside the courthouse, Mortensen said she’d felt no joy seeing Young taken into custody.
“I wish that when she first began to do this, we had been able to find it and stop it and get her the help earlier, rather than it coming to this,” she said.
Mortensen said the Weekly is seeking financial restitution and will ask for the full amount. She said in court that she hoped Young could make amends.
