State Auditor Shad White issued the following statement.
Today
State Auditor Shad White announced Special Agents from his office have
arrested former Secretary/Treasurer of the Oloh Fire Protection District
Jessica Delancey after she was indicted for embezzlement
by a grand jury assembled by District Attorney Hal Kittrell. At the
time of arrest, Delancey was issued a $100,294.59 demand letter which
includes interest and investigative costs.
Delancey
began work with the Oloh Fire Protection District in Lamar County in
2012 under contract to receive a monthly payment of $100 and $50 per
diem each time the fire protection board met. After
account discrepancies were reported by the Lamar County Board of
Supervisors, Auditor’s office investigators determined Delancey wrote
checks to herself for $68,719.59 more than she was owed.
Jessica
Delancey was able to embezzle this money from February 2013 to July
2018 because she was allowed unsupervised access to the fire protection
district’s accounts.
"This
is, once again, an example of someone working in a small government
office abusing their power over the checkbook for significant personal
gain,” said Auditor White. “When funds intended for
law enforcement or a fire department are stolen, it jeopardizes the
safety of the community. We will continue to identify people who put
their communities at risk in this way and hold them accountable."
Delancey
was covered by a $50,000 surety bond during her time at the Oloh Fire
Protection District. This bond acts as a form of insurance to help
recover stolen public funds on behalf of Mississippi
taxpayers.
Jessica
Delancey was released from Lamar County jail after posting bail of
$10,000 on Friday. If convicted for embezzlement, Delancey faces up to
20 years in prison and a $25,000 fine. All persons
arrested by the Mississippi Office of the State Auditor are presumed
innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
The
arrest of Delancey was the second arrest by the Auditor’s office
involving the Oloh Fire Protection District in the last six months. In
October, Delancey’s predecessor, Michelle Barefoot, was
arrested and issued a $40,693.84 embezzlement demand.
8 comments:
Never heard of Oloh, but anyway.
Oloh is a small community between the Oak Grove part of Hattiesburg and Columbia, Mississippi. This case (and the one against the prior bookkeeper) just further illustrates the number one deficiency in most small agencies, non-profits and other companies: a lack of internal controls. When you give one person unfettered access to the funds, they treat it like their own personal treasure trove and can seldom resist the temptation to make regular withdrawals.
8 miles south of Sumrall.
But, actually this is as prevalent in large agencies and cities as in small ones. When there is limited segregation of duties, as in assigning multiple hats to be worn by one man (or woman) or too many having the combination to the safe (checkbook).
This also causes casket sales to increase when the sound of approaching hounds causes suicides.
Way to go Shad. Keep cleaning house in MS. There is plenty more work to be done.
Good grief, you’d think they’d have learned a lesson and made some changes after the predecessor was caught embezzling.
It almost makes you wonder if someone a little higher up the food chain is also involved...
Brett Favre's home/farm was on the southeastern end of the community before throwing in with the Bellevue City plan. $70k must have been that community's entire bank account.
Shad is laying waste to these crooks. Good to see.
This is kind of like how you can give $500,000 to a school to get your kid in and you're a criminal, but if you can give $5 million they name a building after you. Laws are for poor people.
I suspect that now that Mr. Chad is rounding these people up, citizens will not report criminal activities now that they know that someone will do something about it.
This is in contrast to these reports being "kissed off."
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