A former Madison County District Court clerk is to appear in court in June after she was charged with theft in connection with missing deposits, according to the sheriff’s office.
Easter Michelle Bohannan, 41, was booked into jail April 10 and released the same day. She was given a June 10 court date.
Bohannan was chief court clerk from April 2008 until she was fired July 15. Her annual salary was $30,633.49 at the time of her firing.
Bohannan’s arrest followed an investigation by the state Legislative Audit Division and prosecutors for the 4th Judicial Circuit, which includes Madison County.
State auditors discovered discrepancies in the collection of court costs and fines, District Judge Dale Ramsey said.
“I was very disappointed, and I was hurt that it happened in my court,” he said.
Most of the discrepancies occurred before Ramsey took office in January 2013, he said.
Court documents filed with the Madison County circuit clerk’s office say the Legislative Audit Division began investigating after finding that $1,160 in payments made to the court had not been deposited.
In an affidavit, Jerry McCarty with the division states that he found five fraudulent transactions. In two instances, individuals paid fines and court costs to the clerk’s office, but the transactions were later voided in the computer to give the appearance they were never made.
McCarty found three instances of shortages in cash deposits.
McCarty interviewed Bohannan about the missing money, and McCarty reported that she admitted to taking $640 to pay bills.
Bohannan faces one felony theft of property charge in thefts that occurred between September 2012 and July 15 and included more than $1,000 taken through falsified court records.
Ramsey said he does not think anyone was billed twice for payments to the court and that everyone was credited for payments they made.
Arkansas, Pages 12 on 04/25/2014