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 billed with embezzlement, lender fraud and aggravated identity theft.

Homosexual Cameron Tucker, 63, of Fayetteville, is accused of embezzling extra than $500,000 from Spring Lake all through her tenure as finance director and accounting technician for the town, in accordance to a assertion introduced by the U.S. Legal professional for the Jap District of North Carolina.  An indictment also accuses her of carrying out the embezzlement by way of fraudulent checks containing forged signatures of the mayor and city supervisor, the statement mentioned.

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U.S. Legal professional Michael Easley said in the statement that town federal government officers are entrusted to invest taxpayer money on general public requires — not their personal.

“Our prosecutors and legislation enforcement companions are committed to vigorously investigating all allegations of general public corruption,” he mentioned.

Tucker is charged with a person rely of embezzlement from a regional federal government receiving federal money, four counts of bank fraud, and two counts of aggravated id theft.

History: NC auditor’s report on Spring Lake: Evidence of monetary wrongdoing, which include embezzlement

A 56-web page investigation report that was unveiled by Condition Auditor Beth Wood in March located that the town’s previous accounting technician, who also served as Spring Lake’s finance director for much more than a calendar year, applied at least $430,112 of the town’s dollars for personal use. The report did not identify 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 meetings display that Tucker served as finance director in February 2021 and was appointed interim finance director in March 2020.

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The report encouraged that the Spring Lake Board of Aldermen contemplate having legal action against the previous accounting technician. It accused the technician of creating 72 checks for her personal use.

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

The report said 27 checks totaling more than $151,000 have been made out as payable to the technician, with 24 deposited into her particular account and one particular deposited into her husband’s account at the credit score union. Thirteen checks for a total of additional than $113,000 were being designed payable to Heritage Position Senior Residing and utilized to pay out regular resident payments of the technician’s husband, the report mentioned.

The FBI is investigating the circumstance, according to the assertion. Assistant U.S. Legal professional William M. Gilmore is the prosecutor.

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

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