Former Spring Lake finance director charged with embezzling more than $500K from the town

Spring Lake’s previous finance director was arrested Friday by federal authorities and charged with embezzlement, financial institution fraud and aggravated identification theft.

Homosexual Cameron Tucker, 63, of Fayetteville, is accused of embezzling additional than $500,000 from Spring Lake for the duration of her tenure as finance director and accounting technician for the city, in accordance to a assertion produced by the U.S. Legal professional for the Japanese District of North Carolina.  An indictment also accuses her of carrying out the embezzlement by way of fraudulent checks that contains solid signatures of the mayor and city manager, the assertion explained.

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U.S. Legal professional Michael Easley claimed in the statement that city government officials are entrusted to expend taxpayer cash on general public needs — not their individual.

“Our prosecutors and law enforcement associates are committed to vigorously investigating all allegations of public corruption,” he reported.

Tucker is charged with 1 rely of embezzlement from a community govt acquiring federal resources, four counts of bank fraud, and two counts of aggravated id theft.

Track record: NC auditor’s report on Spring Lake: Evidence of money wrongdoing, which includes embezzlement

A 56-site investigation report that was introduced by Point out Auditor Beth Wooden in March located that the town’s former accounting technician, who also served as Spring Lake’s finance director for extra than a calendar year, utilized at least $430,112 of the town’s money for personalized use. The report did not title the technician, but mentioned in the footnotes that she served as the town’s finance director from March 2020 to April 2021 and as interim finance director from March 2020 to September 2020.

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Minutes of the city Board of Aldermen’s conferences clearly show that Tucker served as finance director in February 2021 and was appointed interim finance director in March 2020.

Story carries on

The report suggested that the Spring Lake Board of Aldermen take into consideration taking authorized action from the former accounting technician. It accused the technician of composing 72 checks for her individual use.

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The technician wrote 32 checks for a total of a lot more than $16,000 that have been payable to Bragg Mutual Federal Credit Union and deposited into her personal bank account there, according to the report.

The report stated 27 checks totaling a lot more than $151,000 had been designed out as payable to the technician, with 24 deposited into her own account and one particular deposited into her husband’s account at the credit rating union. 13 checks for a total of additional than $113,000 ended up manufactured payable to Heritage Place Senior Dwelling and utilized to pay back month to month resident bills of the technician’s partner, the report explained.

The FBI is investigating the scenario, in accordance to the statement. Assistant U.S. Attorney William M. Gilmore is the prosecutor.

Shifting Forward: Spring Lake looks to get back again on track with upcoming year’s finances. Here is what’s in it.

Neighborhood information editor Steve DeVane can be achieved at [email protected].

This post initially appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Previous Spring Lake finance manager arrested, billed with embezzlement