If you’ve spent anytime around BJCP judges or hardcore homebrewing types, you’ve probably heard the conversation inevitably turn to the name Bill Slack. Slack used to be the treasurer of the judge-certifying organization, but was shown the door after it was discovered that he’d helped himself to at least $31,000 of the group’s money (and more likely closer to $64,000). The case has been winding through the courts for some time now, and just before Christmas, the BJCP got an early present, as Slack was finally sentenced, essentially ending the proceedings.
Slack plead guilty in September. He could have received as much as 20 years in prison, though federal guidelines suggested 10-26 months. Instead, Slack received a more rare “intermittent” sentence in which he’ll spend one week each month for a year behind bars. Following that he’ll be on probation for five years, and will have to pay the BJCP back $43,139 in restitution.
I never met the Nashua, New Hampshire man, but according to the story in the Nashua Telegraph, he sounds like he may have been something of a nut job. In 1998, he was arrested on an unrelated charge, when he “point[ed] a shotgun at a teenage Telegraph carrier who was trying to collect money for his delivery route.” You’ve got to watch out for those newspaper delivery boys or they’ll rob you blind. And stealing is better left to the professionals.