William Samuel Terry IV

The former executive director of Hobson House admitted Monday to committing four years’ worth of thefts while he oversaw the historic house museum.

William Samuel Terry IV pleaded guilty in Warren Circuit Court to 11 counts of theft by unlawful taking of property valued at more than $300 and one count of theft by failure to make required disposition of property.

“I inappropriately paid myself and transferred money out of an account that I was apparently not supposed to,” Terry said when asked by Warren Circuit Judge John Grise what he did to be guilty of the charges.

Terry hesitated for several seconds before answering Grise’s question.

Appearing with his attorney, Currie Milliken of Bowling Green, Terry, 46, of Glasgow, admitted to writing himself duplicate payroll checks he was not entitled to receive on nine separate occasions.

Terry also sold items belonging to Friends of Riverview, which was formed as the museum’s nonprofit arm, to a consignment store and kept the money he made.

On another occasion, donations to Friends of Riverview were kept by Terry for his personal use, leading to the charge of theft by failure to make required disposition of property.

Finally, Terry admitted to making multiple withdrawals from an account for future investments set up through Hilliard Lyons for his personal use.

Authorities said the offenses occurred between July 2004, soon after he was hired, and September 2008, shortly before he was terminated by the Hobson House Commission.

Warren County Commonwealth’s Attorney Chris Cohron said a plea agreement has been reached that would recommend a 10-year prison sentence. The sentence would be probated for five years upon Terry serving 90 days in jail and paying restitution totaling $60,000 to Hobson House before Sept. 28, when Terry will be sentenced formally by Grise.

If Terry had been convicted by a jury, he could have faced up to 20 years in prison.

Cohron said the plea agreement requires Terry to pay the restitution in a lump sum.

Terry might be able to serve the alternate 90-day sentence at the Barren County Correction Center in Glasgow. Prosecutors are not opposed to Terry being granted work release during that time.

The historic property that Terry oversaw is owned by the city.

Built in the 1850s and completed in 1872, the house was the home of Atwood and Juliet van Meter Hobson and was named Riverview at Hobson Grove for its position atop a hill overlooking Barren River. The partially completed house was used during the Civil War to store munitions.

Suspicions sparked by a low balance in one of the house’s bank accounts led to an investigation by an internal auditor in September 2008, followed by the involvement of the Bowling Green Police Department, which resulted in the criminal charges against Terry.