Randy Acevedo, the suspended Monroe County schools superintendent, shouldn’t go to prison because his wife has mental problems and he’s the family’s sole provider, his father-in-law said.</p><p>Thomas Jenkins, of Creedmoor, N.C., wrote a letter dated Sept. 2 to Circuit Court Judge Mark Jones pleading for leniency for his son-in-law. Jenkins is the father of Acevedo’s wife Monique, who is charged with four counts of felony theft and fraud for allegedly stealing almost $200,000 from the School District when she led its adult education department.</p><p>Randy Acevedo was convicted Aug. 28 of covering up her alleged misdeeds and faces up to 15 years in prison, five on each felony count of official misconduct. Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 17.</p><p>Jenkins wrote that Monique Acevedo has a “mental disorder” and “remains under the care of a psychiatrist, a psychologist and a primary care physician and daily takes multiple doses of psychotropic drugs.”</p><p>He said he and his wife worked “with Randy for his wife, our child, to receive help from a psychiatric hospital where she was confined, diagnosed and treated by a team of psychiatrists, psychologists and other clinicians.”</p><p>The hospital is in Creedmoor, where Monique Acevedo was staying before returning to the Keys in April to be officially charged with theft and fraud.</p><p>“At the present time, she is not able to be gainfully employed. To incarcerate Randy would take away the only source of income his family has. It would disadvantage his children and create an uncertain future for them.”</p><p>The Acevedos have a son who is 21 and a son and a daughter in high school. Randy Acevedo has been working for Historic Tours of America in information technology.</p><p>In his letter to the judge, Jenkins also cites Randy Acevedo’s past work in the community.</p><p>“The court has found Randy guilty. However, the court’s verdict does not destroy nor does it minimize the good he has done. For every mistake he may have made, there are dozens of accomplishments he achieved for the schools of Monroe County,” the letter states.</p><p><b>Wife enters plea</b></p><p>Meanwhile, Monique Acevedo on Thursday pleaded not guilty to the two latest felony charges filed against her — larceny, for allegedly stealing money from Key West High School fundraising activities. Prior to that, she had been charged with theft and fraud.</p><p>The new charges allege that:</p><p>— She organized a June 1, 2008, dance for the eighth-graders with a $5-per-student admission. None of the money collected at the door that night was deposited into the students’ fundraising account.</p><p>— She inappropriately used Adult Education grant money to pay for 200 T-shirts for the class of 2012. They were to be sold for at least $10 apiece. Students sold at least 50 of the shirts, but none of that money was accounted for.</p><p>During her plea on Thursday, she offered Jones an affidavit from her husband saying that he had borrowed from relatives the $1,000 necessary to post his wife’s $10,000 bond.</p><p>“Such an affidavit is needed because if a defendant posts a $10,000 bond, as she did in this case, there is a presumption the person is not indigent and therefore ineligible for the Public Defender’s Office,” Assistant State Attorney Mark Wilson told the Keynoter via e-mail. “Because the money needed to bail her out came from a source other than herself, [Jones] appointed the [Public Defender’s Office] to represent her.”</p><p>Jones set a pretrial conference date for Oct. 1 with a tentative trial start date of Oct. 26.