MORGAN COUNTY, Mo. — After several weeks of investigation by Morgan County Detectives, a former secretary for Morgan County Sheriff Jim Petty has been arrested and charged with seven counts of felony stealing.
A probable cause affidavit for the arrest was presented to the Morgan County Prosecuting Attorney on Tami A. Davis, 46, of Versailles, Mo. The charges against Davis stem from an investigation involving missing funds from the Morgan County Sheriff’s Office from May 2, 2013 through Aug. 18, 2014.
Sheriff Petty says he presented Davis with a letter on Wednesday, Oct. 15 stating her services were no longer needed. According to Petty, Missouri law states no reason for the termination was necessary. Davis had worked in this capacity for seven years.
The Investigation
According to the probable cause statement, on Tuesday, Aug. 28 Morgan County Detective Tony Wheatley and Detective Chuck Black were tasked to investigate the report of missing funds from the Morgan County Sheriff’s account which was maintained by Davis. The following account of events is derived from the probable cause statement.
Wheatley said as he began to go through receipt records at the sheriff’s office, from the office in which Davis occupied and he learned that Davis was responsible for the intake of funds from cash bonds posted in the jail, civil fees, funds dispersed to the Sheriff’s office from the State of Missouri, money received for prisoner transports, and other miscellaneous revenues.
Wheatley learned that some of the money that had been taken was in the form of cash, including cash bonds from the jail and miscellaneous trailer inspections. Most all of the other money received into the office was in check form, made out to the Morgan County Sheriff’s Office.
Wheaton then researched the procedure for cash bonds. The procedure for bonding an inmate at the Morgan County Jail is as follows:
If an inmate is bonded out of the jail on a cash bond, the subject would pay the jail staff in cash. The jail staff would then write out a bond form and fill out a written cash receipt. The jail staff, upon receiving the money, would have two officers count the money, which was then placed into a plastic bag along with a copy of the written cash receipt. The money would then be dropped into a lock box in the jail.
That lock box is bolted to the floor and is locked with a padlock to which there are only two keys. One key was held by Davis, and the other key is held by Morgan County Sheriff’s Office Clerk Nancy Cable. Cable would fulfill the duties of Davis when she was absent.
The next day, per the procedure, Davis would then go to the jail and pick up all monies and cash receipts from the lock box and take them to her office. Davis would then input the information and bond amount to include the inmate’s name and cash receipt number into her accounting system. Davis would them make out a deposit form and deposit cash money into the Bank of Versailles sheriff’s office account referencing the cash receipt number on the deposit form. Davis would then write a check to the corresponding court from which the warrant was issued, for the full amount of the cash bond.
Money Missing
On Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2014, Wheaton received all bank deposit records from the Bank of Versailles for the sheriff’s office account for the calendar year 2013 to 2014, along with all receipts made out by Davis. He then cross checked all bank deposits against the cash bond receipt numbers and found that several cash bonds had not been deposited into the bank account and the money was missing. Wheaton reportedly found a total of 53 cash bonds that were not deposited into the sheriff’s office bank account from May, 2, 2013 through Aug. 18, 2014, which were not accounted for, totaling $17,862.83.
On Wednesday, Oct. 29 Wheatley spoke with Morgan County Treasurer Louella Pyror and she stated that Davis had not written checks to her office that she had received from the State of Missouri, for prisoner transport reimbursement, extradition reimbursement and overtime. The total amount owed to the treasurer’s office is currently $12,443.70. Pryor then explained that the state writes the Morgan County Sheriff’s office a check for the reimbursements. Davis would then deposit these checks into the sheriff’s office account and then Davis was supposed to write a check for the same amount to the Morgan County Treasurer’s office. Pryor then stated that Davis has been depositing checks, but she had not been writing them to the treasurer’s office. Pryor then stated that some of the checks date back to late 2013.
Wheaton then looked at the sheriff’s office account balance as of Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2014 and found it to be $5,801, which is well under the amount needed to pay the treasurer’s office what it is owed. Since this account is used for reimbursements only, and no expenses were paid from this account, the account should have the funds available to pay out all funds that it received and come to a zero balance.
According to Wheatley, this information indicated that there were funds missing from the sheriff’s office account.
Allegations of Theft
Wheatley added that upon investigating this matter, it appears to him that Davis would receive cash bonds from the jail, and then remove the cash from the bag once it was in her office without depositing the funds. Davis would then reimburse the court for the cash bonds, from other funds that were deposited in the account via check from the State of Missouri for the prisoner transport reimbursements and extradition reimbursements. Wheatley reported that this is the reason Davis could not write the checks to the treasurer’s office for the $12,443.70 — the funds were not available.
Wheatley then pulled the schedules for Davis for the calendar year 2013 and 2014. He charted the days that Davis was not in the office due to vacation and sick days. He then charted the days that the cash bonds were not deposited in the bank. Upon looking at the chart he reports that it was very clear to him that all cash bond funds that were missing were taken while Davis was at work, and that during the period when she was on vacation the funds were deposited by clerk Cable.
Missing Cash Receipts
Wheatley added that as he began to look for original cash bond receipts he found that very few of them were in the binder with the original bond forms. As he looked around the office, he says he discovered several original cash bond receipts from 2014 in the bottom of a desk drawer used by Davis. He also found several of them were missing. He then spoke to the court clerks and asked them if they have been receiving bonds from Davis. Morgan County Court Clerk Diane Bauer stated that Davis had been very slow in getting the court checks for the cash bonds, and sometimes they had to call her to get the bond when the subject showed up in court. The clerk also stated that some bonds have taken up to two months to make it from Davis to the court. The clerk also stated there are no bonds currently outstanding.
Davis' Bank Account Subpoenaed
On Tuesday, Oct. 28 Wheatley requested an investigation subpoena for the banking records of Davis. He served the subpoenas on the Bank of Versailles, Citizens Bank of Eldon and the US Bank of Versailles. On Tuesday, Nov. 4 he received the banking records of Davis from Citizens Bank. He learned that Davis did have an active checking account with Citizens Bank. He then compared the deposit records from the Davis account with the dates of the missing cash bonds.
Davis was paid her salary by Morgan County to her personal account once per month on the last business day of the month. On Tuesday, Nov. 4 Wheatley met with Accountant Angela M. Strube, with the CPA firm of Williams Keepers, LLC. He asked Strube if she would look over the financial reports from the cash bonds for the year 2013 and 2014. Strube then went through the financial statements, banking records and cash bond receipts and verified Wheatley’s information about the missing cash deposits.
Davis Arrested
The Morgan County Prosecuting Attorney has requested a special prosecutor from Laclede County to prosecute the case. Davis was arrested on Friday Nov. 7, 2014, at her home in Versailles, Mo. without a bond, and she is currently being held in the Pettis County Adult Detention Center. The investigation is continuing.
