Former Jones city employee accused of embezzling thousands
JONES, Okla. (KFOR) -- A former Jones assistant city clerk is accused of embezzling tens of thousands of dollars while on the job.
An arrest warrant has now been issued for Pamela Lucas.
On Valentine's Day in 2019, court papers show another assistant clerk saw a man pay Lucas in cash for a police citation. The next day, the clerk called and asked the man for his receipt.
The court documents explain that two receipts were issued. One to the man for $835 and one to the city for $350.
The assistant clerk told city clerk, Tammy Wallace, about the situation and Lucas was fired days later.
That's when the town of Jones got the Oklahoma State Auditor involved.
"We found that $59,000 were posted as received but not deposited in the cities bank account. This was a little alarming," said Cindy Byrd, the state auditor.
According to investigators, two years after she was let go, Lucas confessed to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation during a voluntary interview. In that interview she told agents "unfortunately, I did it."
The documents further show in the interview, Lucas admitted to taking between $100 and $500 two to three times per week, spending the stolen money at the casino for "stress relief."
A year later, Lucas allegedly confessed to OSBI again.
This time, she said she was unsure if she deposited money from the city to her bank accounts. However, more questions remain.
According to the State Auditor's findings between January 2016 and December 2019, town deposits were short. Of the nearly $60,000 of unposted payments, $38,000 happened while Lucas was employed, the other $21,000 happened after Lucas was fired.
"My official recommendation would be that there are questions unanswered here that are still unanswered about this $21,000 and there needs to more investigation as to where this money went," said Byrd.
The town of Jones released a statement late Tuesday afternoon saying they have new precautions put in place and are working with law enforcement on the situation.
Their full release is below.
OSBI is hosting a press conference Wednesday at 10 a.m. to talk further on the investigation. News 4 will be there.