Former Baldwin clerk allegedly stole town funds

A former Town of Baldwin employee allegedly stole more than $60,000 from town coffers.
The Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s Office conducted an investigation and reported that “records indicate that from July 10, 2014 through June 15, 2015, cash payments totaling $63,504 were received and/or recorded as received but were not deposited into the Town’s bank accounts.”
Though there were three employees collecting payments, the investigative report alleged that “former Office Clerk Natashia Lancelin was primarily responsible for receiving, recording, processing, and/or depositing nearly all of the missing funds. These records indicate that Lancelin failed to properly record cash payments and created false public records to conceal cash amounts collected but not deposited. By failing to properly record all cash payments and falsifying public records to conceal cash payments not deposited, Lancelin may have violated state law.”
The report claims Baldwin accepts payments for utilities, police fines, recreational rentals, permits, and other fees in cash, check, money order or credit card. During the period covered, Lancelin was primarily responsible for payment collections. Town Clerk Sonya Jones and Treasurer Trunisha Marks also collected payments when Lancelin was not available.
All clerks recorded utility payments on the customer’s two-part bill stub, one part of which was then placed in either of the two unlocked, shared cash drawers, the report states. Payments made for anything other than utility bills were recorded in a pre-numbered, multi-copy receipt book and on a daily listing maintained at the front counter.
At the end of each day, the investigation reportedly revealed, Lancelin totaled the utility stubs and other receipts listed on the green sheet and counted the funds in the drawers. The funds, corresponding utility stubs, and the green sheet were then placed in the safe. The following business day, the utility stubs were given to Jones to apply payments to customer accounts in the utility billing system.
After Lancelin’s employment with the town began in March 2014, Marks’ involvement with the deposit process reportedly decreased gradually until October 31, 2014, when Marks went on maternity leave. Records confirm that Lancelin collected, processed, and deposited the majority of payments for the town during this period, the investigative report states.
From Jan. 1, 2014 through July 31, 2015, the legislative auditor’s staff compared the amounts collected to the town’s bank deposit records. These records indicate that utility, police, rental, permit and other payments totaling $63,504 were received and/or recorded as received but were not deposited into the town’s bank accounts.
The audit investigation claims:
—$30,730 in cash, non-utility payments not properly recorded. Records indicate that Lancelin received 72 percent of the unrecorded payments not deposited. This indicates that she collected the money but failed to record the funds on the green sheets. Lancelin processed the remaining (28 percent) payments for deposit and appears to have re-created the associated green sheets to omit the payments which were not deposited.
For example, on July 14, 2014, records indicate that Marks allegedly collected a $190 cash payment which was not listed on the green sheet and was not deposited. According to Marks, she is certain that she listed this payment, along with others
—$9,530 in properly recorded cash payments collected from Oct. 01, 2014 through June 12, 2015 were properly recorded in the utility system and on the green sheet but were not deposited. Records indicate that nearly all deposits associated with these payments appear to have been processed by Lancelin. As such, it appears that Lancelin intentionally omitted recorded payments from the deposit reconciliations and corresponding bank deposits.
—$23,244 in cash utility payments not properly recorded from March 24, 2015 through June 10, 2015. Records indicate that these cash payments were entered into the utility billing system in 28 batches separate from the other utility funds collected on the same days.
All recorded payments were deposited from Jan. 1, 2014 through July 9, 2014, the report says. Lancelin, who began employment with the town on March 25, 2014, was the only new clerk who received payments during this period. In addition, cash shortages ceased after Lancelin was terminated from the town on June 17, 2015. Both Marks and Jones stated that they have never taken funds from the town, and that Lancelin was primarily responsible for collections and deposits. Lancelin stated that she did not take money from the town and could not explain why cash payments that she received and processed were not deposited.