(Stillwater, Okla.) An employee of the Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education in Stillwater has been accused of embezzling $31,069 from the New and Related Services Division of the Oklahoma Vocational Association while she was serving as its treasurer between August 2013 and March 2015.
Janet Lynn Moore, 54, of Stillwater, who remains free on $5,000 bail, was arraigned on Aug. 6 and ordered to return to court on Oct. 5 when she can seek a preliminary hearing on the felony charge that carries a maximum penalty of a 10-year prison term and a $10,000 fine on conviction.
On April 6 Marcelle Mack, the director of the Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education, reported to a Stillwater officer that Moore had embezzled funds, Stillwater Police Detective Richard Leport alleged in an affidavit.
Mack explained that the funds “were private contributions which were controlled by the Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education,” the affidavit said.
Mack said that another employee had recently opened the bank statement for the New and Related Services Division of the Oklahoma Vocational Association and “noticed several checks had been made out to ‘cash,’” that were numbered 1096, 1097, and 1098, the affidavit said.
When Mack began investigating and asked Moore to bring her the financial records for the accounts, Mack noticed that the three cash withdrawals by those checks were omitted, the affidavit alleged.
“Janet Moore admitted she had done inappropriate activities with the account and intended to pay the money back. Marcelle Mack was told by Janet Moore she took approximately $20,000,” the affidavit alleged.
“Marcelle Mack initiated an audit of the financial records for the New and Related Services Division of the Oklahoma Vocational Association accounts,” the affidavit said.
On April 9, when the detective talked to the defendant, “Janet Moore admitted she began writing checks out to ‘cash’ shortly after being added to the NRS checking account at BancFirst,” the affidavit alleged.
“Janet Moore typically would then take the checks to the drive-thru at the BancFirst Branch downtown or the Branch on Hall of Fame.
“Janet Moore would send in her identification to the teller and receive the cash back.
“Janet Moore estimated she wrote 50 checks to ‘cash’ possibly totaling $20,000,” the affidavit alleged.
“Janet Moore admitted to having financial problems,” the affidavit alleged.
“Janet Moore and I reviewed the images of checks 1096, 1097 and 1098,” which she admitted cashing at the BancFirst Branch on Hall of Fame Avenue in Stillwater, the detective alleged in his affidavit.
Check 1096 was made payable to $475 cash on March 2, 2015, with the memo line saying “Nat’l Policy Seminar,” and Moore’s endorsement, the affidavit alleged.
Check 1097 was made payable to $100 cash on March 9, 2015, with Moore’s endorsement, the affidavit alleged.
Check 1098 was made payable to $100 cash on March 17, 2015, with the memo line saying “Leadership Conf.” and Moore’s endorsement, the affidavit alleged.
On May 14, the detective met with the advisor for the New and Related Services Division who audited the financial records, the affidavit said.
That audit indicated “117 unauthorized withdrawal transactions from Aug. 15, 2013 through March 31, 2015, for $31,543.88,” with 105 of those transactions made payable to cash totaling $26,329.33, the affidavit alleged.
“Nine of the withdrawal transactions were New and Related Services Division checks made payable to ‘Janet Moore’ totaling $4,574.55,” the affidavit alleged.
The auditor found that on three occasions Moore withheld cash from a deposit totaling $640, the affidavit alleged.
The auditor “discovered Janet Moore had closed out two certificates of deposit and moved the money to the New and Related Services Division checking account,” the affidavit alleged.
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