Cashier-auditor pleads guilty to office theft

WARREN -- A cashier and auditor in the city's income tax collection office has pleaded guilty to one charge of felony theft in office.
Melody Byard, 33, of Page Avenue Northeast, also pleaded this week in the Trumbull County courtroom of Judge W. Wyatt McKay to three charges of misdemeanor tampering with records for taking about $75 from the office.
She will be sentenced after a presentence investigation.
Byard was placed on unpaid administrative leave from her job in September when the theft was discovered and is scheduled for a predisciplinary hearing June 12 to determine whether she will be fired.
At sentencing in six to eight weeks, she could get probation or from six to 12 months in prison on the theft charge and up to six months for each of the misdemeanors.
Diane Barber, an assistant Trumbull County prosecutor, said the investigation into Byard was started when a city taxpayer notified the department that a cash payment she had made to her account was not credited to her account.
Byard was charged with three counts of tampering with records because there were thefts from three accounts in 2004 and 2005, and Byard had attempted to alter records to hide the thefts, Barber said.