Ex-New Castle clerk charged in theft of $31K

The former clerk said she was lending the money to herself.

STAFF REPORT

NEW CASTLE, Pa. — A former city clerk has been charged with taking almost $31,000 from the city’s payroll and pension funds.

Nancie Miles, of Hillsville Road, Edinburg, Pa., was a clerk in the city finance department when police began investigating discrepancies last year.

The money was taken from the accounts in payments to herself that she called “loans,” according to an affidavit of probable cause on file with District Magistrate David Rishel.

Miles was arraigned late this week before Rishel. She is free after posting $2,500 bond, and her preliminary hearing is set for 9:30 a.m. Thursday in Lawrence County Central Court.

The investigation began Oct. 27, 2008, when the city’s chief finance officer, Stephanie Dean, reported irregularities during a review of the finance office, the affidavit says.

Dean stated she was reviewing payroll and noticed a check that had been generated for a health-care payment on an odd date that did not correspond to a payroll date. The check belonged to Miles, the affidavit says.

Dean spoke to auditors from Zelenkofske Axelrod LLC, which is working for the city. An auditor with the firm and Dean reviewed the payroll ledger, which only Miles had access to, the affidavit says.

They discovered that Miles was paying herself early regularly, the affidavit says.

The affidavit says Miles typed checks to herself on a manual typewriter, put the city treasurer’s stamp on them, then voided her regular payroll check on payday, knowing it would not clear the bank.

The auditor and Dean went through filing cabinets in the office and found numerous checks made out to Miles for even dollar amounts, such as $200, $300 and $700, the document says. They thought that was odd, because Miles would not gross an even dollar amount, it says.

When Miles was called in to the mayor’s office, the affidavit says, she acted distraught. That made Dean even more suspicious, because it seemed to be an overreaction to being disciplined for paying herself early, the affidavit says.

A few weeks later, Miles came to Dean with a stack of checks and a written confession. A check of the security-key log for the building showed Miles had recently been in the city building after work hours, and Dean said she believes Miles took the checks that particular night.

Miles gave Dean a written confession that said she would lend herself money from the payroll and pension funds and that she was paying these loans back by having money deducted from her paycheck under “miscellaneous” deductions, the affidavit says.

She also admitted to overpaying herself from the pension fund, the affidavit says.

The auditing firm prepared a report that showed Miles overpaid herself $24,449.34 from the payroll fund and $6,509.37 from the pension fund, totaling $30,957.71. The money was taken in 2004, 2007 and 2008, the affidavit says.

Police said they confirmed with city administrators that Miles was not authorized to take the money over and above her due pay.

She is charged with 175 counts of forgery-unauthorized act, 175 counts of forgery-uttering, two counts of theft by unlawful taking and two counts of receiving stolen property.