Audit: Former Clerk Misappropriated $185K from Arkansas City’s Accounts

State auditors have determined a former city clerk and administrator in Arkansas wrote unauthorized checks to herself and used other tactics to misappropriate nearly $185,000 in municipal money.

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports that auditors who reviewed Sulphur Springs’ finances found undocumented disbursements, payroll discrepancies and other problems over a three-year period ending in March.

Most of the money was misappropriated from the city’s water department and a lesser amount from the general fund.

Authorities say former City Clerk and Administrator Codi Bates was responsible for handling all receipts and deposits and was the only employee with access to the city’s accounting software systems.

Bates was fired in March and she and her husband each were charged in June with felony theft of property and forgery.

Attempts by the newspaper to contact them for comment were unsuccessful.

Sulphur Springs is in Benton County in northwest Arkansas.