State Auditor Shad White issued the following statement.
Today
State Auditor Shad White announced Special Agents from his office have
arrested Polly Tutor of Nettleton and LaTana Williams of Calhoun City.
The arrests come from separate investigations. Tutor, a
former clerk for the Itawamba County Soil and Water Conservation
District, was indicted for embezzlement and forgery. Williams is the
current police chief in Calhoun City and has been indicted for
embezzlement. Each woman was presented a demand letter upon
arrest.
“Our
team of investigators in North Mississippi continue to do great work,
just like the rest of the staff here at the Auditor’s office,” said
Auditor White. “We will hold the line on theft of taxpayer
dollars no matter where we find it.”
Polly Tutor is accused of making unauthorized purchases with a district debit card. Tutor also allegedly wrote unauthorized checks from the District’s beaver control program checking account to herself and others. Signatures on these checks are believed to be forged. From June 2014 to August 2020, Tutor purportedly embezzled over $25,000 from the District. When interest and investigative expenses are included, Tutor owes $37,215.02 to taxpayers in Itawamba County.
Tutor
Commissioners
from the District contacted the Auditor’s office when a tax lien was
filed against the District for nonpayment of payroll taxes.
Investigators confirmed multiple District-controlled
bank accounts had been depleted as a result of Tutor’s scheme.
LaTana
Williams allegedly submitted time sheets claiming to be on the clock as
police chief while she was actually working a second job at a Pontotoc
County retail business. A comparison of timesheets
from the Calhoun City Police Department to those from Williams’s second
job showed she was paid over $6,700 for hours she did not work as
police chief. Williams’s demand letter shows she owes $10,793.99 to
Calhoun City residents.
The
Auditor’s office was contacted by local officials when Williams was
absent during an emergency call in early 2019. Williams’s scheme
allegedly began in late Fall 2018.
Tutor’s bond was set at $10,000 in Itawamba County, and the court set a $25,000 bond for Williams in Calhoun County.
If convicted, Tutor faces up to 25 years in prison and $60,000 in fines. Williams faces up to 20 years in prison and $5,000 in fines. All persons arrested by the Mississippi Office of the State Auditor are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Tutor will be prosecuted by the office of District Attorney John Weddle while Benjamin Creekmore’s office will prosecute LaTana Williams.
No
surety bond covers Tutor’s employment as a clerk for the Itawamba
County Soil and Water Conservation District. A $50,000 surety bond
covers Williams’s time as Police Chief of Calhoun City. Surety
bonds are similar to insurance designed to protect taxpayers from
corruption. Both women will remain liable for the full amount of the
demand in addition to criminal proceedings.
Suspected fraud can be reported to the Auditor’s office online any time by clicking the red button at www.osa.ms.gov or via telephone during normal business hours at 1-(800)-321-1275.
17 comments:
It NEVER stops-
Ben Creekmore goes hard after Democrats. Right Sheldon?
Every town in this state. Every. Town. In. This. State.
Unreal.
This is unbelievable. Keep going!
On and on it goes. Yet I'm waiting on the obligatory "when is Shad going after the big guys" comment.
We were doing just fine here in Nettleton. We were socially distancing and improving our homes and neighborhood. We had water. Lots of water. No raw boo boo around here. Our community was doing just fine. We weren't getting blown up and the judicial system wasn't catching and releasing any alligators in our community. Ms. Tutor was our friend and she will be sorely missed. Literally, sorely missed once MDWFP gets ahold of us.
Either Shad White is amazingly awesome at his job or previous auditors were incompetent/didn't care. My guess is that it's the latter.
Stealing from the beavers......that takes some damn imagination. At least the beavers go to live a little longer....
So she was the police chief but was moonlighting as a sales clerk?
I'm sure the Calhoun City Chief of Police is not a high paying job...maybe not even full time...but WTF?
Got caught shaving beaver funds.
1:50 The previous auditors frequently reported the same types of crimes investigated by auditors' staff and resulting arrests. Shad takes it to another level reporting it as if he has busted a billion dollar ponzi scheme. He's better at getting some media spin out or the otherwise routine investigative work conducted by the staff.
Their beaver control is a failure.
Hello Betty!
@3:24 you are spot on. Shad appears to be a shiny beaver toothed self promoting blowhard.
Somebody tell this narrow ass publicity hound that it's almost time to put out another "I'm gonna be watching you" self-serving press release now that the feds are sending rescue money to states/local governments. Come on, Shad, get you some free publicity by posturing about how you're gonna make sure the fed money is spent properly. F*ck you and your sawed off runt chest beating nonsense.
Self gratification aside, publicizing the too-frequent discoveries of graft in local government is a good thing, and should make voters give more thought to their selections for elected office.
The beaver tail woman is old news. She has already been indicted and is working on a plea deal. This is a year old. Shad was needing some publicity to keep his name on the voters minds.
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