A prosecutor has charged two former employees of the Southeast White County Water Association with theft of property -- one of them involving property worth more than $360,000.
Brandon Lee Johnson, 36, and Diana Woodle, 51, both of Searcy, were charged in Searcy on Wednesday with theft of property with a value greater than $25,000, a felony. Woodle was office manager for the utility, and Johnson was a technician.
State auditors found that Woodle had received $361,180 "in salary overpayments, medical reimbursements, and personal credit charges without authorization that she was not entitled to" between Jan. 1, 2011, and April 7, 2016, according to an affidavit filed in White County Circuit Court and signed by a special agent with the Arkansas State Police.
The auditors found that Johnson had received $42,230 "in personal credit charges without authorization that he was not entitled to" between Jan. 1, 2011, and April 5, 2016.
Both defendants had previously admitted to some irregularities but not to the degree the auditors found, according to affidavits.
Neither defendant still works for the association, which is a public water authority that serves a rural area of the county, according to board President Seth Mobley.
Mobley said he had no comment on the charges.
The charges and the affidavits are "the result of thorough and extensive investigations by the Arkansas State Police and the Arkansas Division of Legislative Audit," Prosecuting Attorney Rebecca Reed McCoy said in an email.
Special Agent Joe Pickett of the state police wrote that in August, the association's secretary-treasurer, Steve Merritt, advised that during an annual audit by a private accounting firm, that auditor found issues with an association credit card and with its business charge account with Lowe's Home Improvement.
"Merritt advised the auditor identified numerous purchases on these two accounts that did not seem to be for any legitimate business purpose," Pickett wrote.
"In discussions with Woodle, she advised that the personal purchases were made by mistake and calculated that she had made $25,000 in personal purchases," Pickett added. She paid $25,944 back to the utility, he said.
"In discussions with Johnson, he admitted to making personal purchases and signed a promissory note to repay" $23,000, Pickett wrote.
Woodle surrendered to White County authorities Thursday morning and was released on bond a short time later, jail records show. Johnson had not been arrested as of late Thursday afternoon.
The prosecutor said she expects Woodle will be arraigned in circuit court on Aug. 1 and hopes Johnson also will be arraigned then.
State Desk on 07/14/2017