Embezzlement cases stealing our trust in North Carolina

FROM http://www.the-dispatch.com/

What is the deal with all the embezzling cases in Davidson County?

On Thursday, Ginger Grubb pleaded guilty to stealing more than $350,000 from the Welcome Fire Department while she was that organization’s treasurer. A retired teacher married to a former chief deputy at the Sheriff’s Office, Grubb was, one would think, a respected member of her community before she was caught grifting the agency entrusted to protect that community. Not only that, she was ripping off the taxpayers who help fund that agency – in other words, her neighbors.


But as distressing as it is to learn the person entrusted with money meant for, among other things, new equipment to keep firefighters working safely instead spent it on vacations, shopping and Netflix, it’s even more alarming that this is far from an isolated case. Others over the past year include:

• Former Thomasville chamber of commerce employees Krimson Wilson Brown and Amanda Blair Armstrong were charged in August with stealing more than $100,000 from the organization over a two-year period.

• Matthew Swift, the former manager of Lexington Parks and Recreation, stands accused of embezzling more than $21,000 from the department’s booster club. He was indicted in November.

• Just this week, a grand jury indicted Andrew Eads, a former employee of the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office, on 46 felony charges for allegedly embezzling $19,000 from the agency. Authorities say he stole from funds seized by the Sheriff’s Office in criminal investigations and covered his tracks by altering the department’s computer records.

And as if all that’s not bad enough, we have people charged with stealing from organizations meant to benefit our schools.

• Investigators allege Terry Cranfill embezzled $11,905 from the Welcome Elementary Parent Teacher Organization while he served was its treasurer.

• Lynn Marie Johnson is charged with using the Davis-Townsend Elementary School PTO debit card to embzzle $1,052.81.

• Shannon Justice and Crystal Rummage, the former president and vice president of the Churchland Elementary School PTO, were both charged early this month with pilfering from that group’s account from late 2014 to June of last year. The amount the women are accused of embezzling was not released at the time of their arrest.

In all the cases but Grubb’s, the charges haven’t been proven. If they are, though, this seems like an awfully bad run of sticky-finger syndrome. Maybe organizations should do a little more vetting of the people who handle their cash. It would certainly be appreciated, because we as taxpayers, chamber members, booster club givers and PTO supporters don’t want to pay for someone else’s vacations and Netflix subscriptions.