OOLITIC, Ind. — A woman who served as the clerk-treasurer for the town of Oolitic is under arrest after being accused of siphoning nearly $80,000 from a small town's water utility payments.
Jessica L. Staggs, 37, of Bedford was arrested after surrendering herself to the Lawrence County Jail on Monday. She faces on count of official misconduct.
Documents reveal that Staggs' arrest stemmed from a lengthy investigation headed by the Indiana State Police and the Indiana State Board of Accounts. After learning of a large discrepancy in the water utility accounts, the town council requested the SBA to investigate the possibility of someone siphoning funds from the customers' payments.
According to ISP, the State Board of Accounts began its investigation in July 2015 and determined that 98 water utility payments were not fully deposited into the town of Oolitic's account. The investigators also uncovered that 157 checks did not reflect recorded payment amounts with the monetary discrepancies totaling $79,816.88.
The SBA said 81 of these 157 incorrectly recorded checks also stemmed from three specific customers.
These payments fell under Staggs' responsibilities who served as clerk-treasurer from October 2014 to December 2020. Investigators also linked the deposited checks to Staggs based on handwriting and Staggs claiming mileage for driving to the bank to deposit the checks.
In addition to criminal charges, the SBA is requesting that Staggs reimburse Oolitic for not only the nearly $80,000 diverted from the customer's water bills, but for an additional nearly $45,000 in special investigation costs.