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GREENSBORO - A former police sergeant and past administrator of Safety Town was found guilty Wednesday of willfully failing to discharge his duties and returned $15,600.35 to the city.

David Andrew Moore, a 22-year veteran of the police department, received a 30-day suspended sentence and 12 months of unsupervised probation from Guilford Superior Court Judge Henry Frye Jr.

Moore entered an Alford plea, which means he does not admit guilt but acknowledges the state has enough evidence to convict him.

Moore, 46, was arrested in September 2007 and charged with embezzlement. He was accused of taking more than $21,000 from Safety Town and the police department's Student Outreach and Recruiting Program from May 2004 through July 2007.

Safety Town is a nonprofit summer day camp for 5- and 6-year-olds that covers such topics as traffic safety, poison and strangers.

Investigators found that some of the purchases originally questioned in the audit were for the benefit of Safety Town, and Moore agreed to pay back the lower amount. Property purchased with Safety Town funds and seized in the investigation will be returned to Moore, said Assistant District Attorney Howard Neumann.

The embezzlement was discovered in 2007 when a routine audit of the program's finances turned up the discrepancies.

Moore had coordinated the program for more than six years and managed the program's finances for at least three years. Moore's employment with the city stopped on Aug. 15, 2008, said Pat Boswell, a city spokeswoman. She would not disclose whether he resigned or was fired.

Moore's attorney, Robert O'Hale said Moore had been an outstanding police officer for 21 years. "He just did a bad job of keeping up with accounting practices," O'Hale said.

Moore reimbursed himself with Safety Town funds for money of his own that he had spent on the program, O'Hale said, but did not adequately document the transactions.

"He was put in a difficult position," O'Hale said. "He didn't keep accounting as well as he could have."

Private fraud investigators who looked at Moore's spending on the program found "there were problems, but not intentional fraud," O'Hale said.

Moore, who appeared in khaki pants and a brown leather jacket, did not speak in court.

O'Hale said Moore handles large amounts of money in his new sales job and receives excellent performance reviews.

Contact Sonja Elmquist at 373-7090 or sonja. elmquist@news-record.com