Two West Tennessee officials were recently indicted after a state agency found they stole thousands of dollars from an animal shelter in one instance and from jail inmates in another.
The Tennessee State Comptroller, Jason Mumpower, recently announced indictments in the cases after investigators from his office discovered the fraudulent schemes.
In one, Christopher Sikes, the former director of Hardin County Animal Services, was found to have stolen $12,117. The funds were stolen from shelter collections while Sikes led the organization from January 2019 until he was fired in January 2023.
Sikes used two different methods to carry out the misappropriations of the funds.
For one, he improperly voided receipts totaling $8,459 in the shelter’s accounting software. Voided receipts could occur when a refund is issued. However, shelter services are nonrefundable, and numerous customers who had their receipts voided confirmed that no refunds were ever received. Investigators verified that these collections were neither put back on the books nor deposited.
Sikes also failed to deposit at least $3,658 in fees collected at the shelter. During the time span of the invesitgation, shelter collections totaled $24,618. But Sikes only deposited $20,960 in collections.
Investigators found that Sikes was the only shelter employee authorized to void receipts, access collections from the safe, prepare shelter collections for deposit, and deliver deposits to the trustee.
Earlier this month, the Hardin County Grand Jury indicted Sikes for one count of theft of property over $10,000, one count of forgery over $10,000, one count of computer crimes over $2,500, one count of destruction of and tampering with governmental records, and one count of official misconduct.
“Hardin County officials should ensure that one person is not given exclusive control over key financial processes,” Mumpower said in a statement. “Separating financial duties reduces the risk that errors or misappropriations will go undetected.”
Earlier this month, the Lake County Grand Jury indicted Neina Ceaser, the administrator of that county’s jail.
Investigators found that Ceaser stole at least $35,158 of inmate commissary funds and cash deposits from January 2018 through July 2023. Lake County jail inmates use their commissary funds to purchase items such as snacks and toiletries. Ceaser was responsible for overseeing the inmate commissary accounts, which includes making cash deposits.
The investigation began after Lake County officials discovered the sheriff’s department commissary account was out of balance and inmates could not pay for commissary products.
The investigation revealed that Ceaser failed to deposit cash that was collected from two kiosk machines located at the sheriff’s department. The kiosks are used to collect money for placement in an inmate’s commissary account. If an inmate has any cash or coins on their person when they are booked, the funds are also placed in their commissary account, using the kiosk.
Investigators compared the cash collections in the kiosks to the department’s cash deposits and discovered that Ceaser failed to deposit $35,158.88 of inmate funds into the inmates’ commissary bank account. Ceaser concealed her misappropriation by falsifying general ledger journal entries and deposit slips.
For this, Ceasar was indicted by a grand jury for one count of theft of property over $10,000, one count of destruction of and tampering with governmental records, and one count of official misconduct.
“Sheriff’s department officials must provide adequate oversight and implement effective internal controls over cash collected in the kiosks,”Mumpower said. “One person should not be responsible for collecting the cash, counting it, depositing it, and posting the journal entries. I’m pleased to note the department is already taking steps to address this issue.”
