Embezzling Close to $1M In Taxpayers Dollars; Citing Compulsion to Hoard Money

A former Wake County Register of Deeds employee has been charged with embezzling nearly $1M of taxpayers money citing compulsion to hoard money. The deeds office reported last year that money was missing; an investigation by the county’s insurance company took place and revealed $2.3 million in cash vanished from the department.

Wake County’s longtime leader pleaded guilty on Friday to six counts of embezzlement from the office. The investigation revealed that the office failed to keep accurate records which led to four other employees being charged with embezzlement. The financial audits that were performed by the county failed to uncover the missing money.

The district attorney additionally noted the former Wake County employee paid off her credit bills every month in full and made monthly mortgage payments during the same time frame money was being skimmed from the public funds.

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Prevent This From Happening to YOU!

Help protect yourself from embezzlement;
Implement a cash management system.

When handling cash, its very important to make every effort to ensure proper documentation for the transaction. There should be a well-documented trail of evidence and accountability from the time of receipt to the time of deposit. A couple of tips we can suggest to help protect your company are:

• Invest in technology. This can boost your accuracy, efficiency and security and allow you to handle cash with confidence and reduce your risk of losses from theft and fraud.
• Separation of duties. Checks and balances are important when you are handling cash. The employees who handle the money should be different than those who are responsible for book keeping.
• Set a limit on the amount of cash that you need to keep on hand. Make regular deposits to the bank; this will decrease the potential for theft.
• Standardize a process so everyone is on the same page when handling cash.
• Enforce Policies and Procedures.

Make Sure Your Clients Take a Proactive Approach To Protecting Their Business Should a Loss Occur

Make sure your clients have crime insurance. Take the steps to ensure that your clients are covered by calling one of the Berkley Crime team members listed below.