Legislative auditors on Friday released two reports detailing allegations that bookkeepers at two separate entities -- a rural school district and a volunteer fire department -- wrote fraudulent checks to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars in public funds.
In both cases, bookkeepers face felony forgery charges from prosecutors, Roger Norman, the chief legislative auditor, told lawmakers on the Legislative Joint Auditing Committee.
The former chief of the Turtle Creek Volunteer Fire Department in Saline County, Jimmy Cooper, is also facing a charge of theft of property, according to court records.
An audit of Turtle Creek's finances discovered a total of $327,531 in improper disbursements, according to the report released to lawmakers on Friday.
The audit report stated that payments of more than $40,000 went to Cooper, as well as more than $207,000 in payments to the bookkeeper, Samantha Blair, which were mostly recorded as wages.
Blair faces 131 counts of forgery and one count each of falsifying business records and theft of property in the 22nd Judicial Circuit.
The report also cited $8,868 spent from a debit card held by the Fire Department to repair Cooper's personal ATV, and $5,775 spent on holiday parties, among other things.
Both Cooper and Blair have been dismissed from their positions by a board appointed by the county judge of Saline County to oversee the Fire Department. The report stated that the previous board had not met for years while the department operated.
The other audit report, conducted on the Marvell School District in Phillips County, similarly found that a bookkeeper altered checks from the school district to be paid into her personal bank account.
The bookkeeper, April Poor, is alleged to have written herself 90 such unauthorized checks over a four-year period, totaling $471,666. The 366-student school district was placed in fiscal distress in April, in part due to the theft of funds. She is charged with five counts of theft of property and 90 counts of forgery in the 1st Judicial Circuit.
Marvell Superintendent Joyce Cottoms told lawmakers Friday that she had implemented new controls after the discovery of the theft, including the requirement that two administrators sign checks and that all bank statements be sent directly to her office.
In response to questions from lawmakers, Norman said that auditors in years past had repeatedly raised concerns about the school district not splitting up the bookkeeper's control of the books to several employees.
"If the bank statements were opened by someone other than her, that should have raised a red flag," he said.
Sen. Jason Rapert, R-Conway, co-chairman of the Legislative Joint Auditing Committee, said rules regarding the segregation of duties are already covered by agencies such as the Department of Education.
"We continually need to revisit that to see if there's anything we can do," Rapert said, adding, "It's important to note to people the damage that is done by people who break the law."
Rapert encouraged state employees who have concerns about potential mismanagement to contact Legislative Audit, noting that such whistleblowers are protected under state law.
Metro on 06/08/2019