District Attorney Dee Bates said Thursday that while up to $1 million may have been stolen in McComb city court, the former clerk who pleaded guilty this week to embezzlement only admitted she stole $84,000.
That’s the amount reported missing by the state Department of Audit between Oct. 1, 2014 and Feb. 12 of this year. However, the city said it has found accounting errors in cash payments of city court fines dating back to 2009. There has been no court case or criminal charges for money missing between 2009 and Sept. 30, 2014.
Bates acknowledged that he has been criticized for recommending a house arrest sentence for Greta Patterson, the former city court clerk. But he said the main reason for his decision is because the city stands a far less chance of getting any money back if Patterson goes to prison.
He said ever since city officials discovered that money was missing, Patterson “desired to come in and admit her guilt.” She waived her right to have the case heard by a grand jury and pleaded guilty without being indicted. Appearing Monday in Pike County Circuit Court, she apologized for what she did — referring to the stolen $84,000 — and said she would repay the city.
However, the amount Patterson has admitted stealing is less than 10 percent of the total amount McComb officials say the city lost.
Department of Audit spokesman Sarah Smith declined to answer questions on why the review covered only five months and whether the agency is investigating money stolen before October 2014.
“Since this is an ongoing case and it is still before the court (restitution hearing), it would be improper for us to make any comments at this time,” Smith wrote in an email. “We have handed our work over to the DA’s office.”
The city’s annual audit, released earlier this year, identified $340,000 that was missing during the 2014 fiscal year, and city officials later said the total theft over several years may have been around $620,000.
Only when Patterson appeared in court this week did the sum increase to seven figures.
“I found out about the $1 million number on the day of the sentencing hearing,” Bates said.
Mayor Whitney Rawlings confirmed that a state auditor only reviewed records after Oct. 1, 2014. He said he does not know if the agency is reviewing prior records.
“We gave them everything,” Rawlings said. “They had all our records going back three years, something like that. They had our estimate, which was about $600,000.”
Rawlings said the same method was used to steal city court money before October 2014 as it was afterward.
Patterson is scheduled to return to court in February, where Judge David Strong will specify how much restitution she owes. Bates predicted it will involve an up-front payment of a sizable portion of the $84,000, with monthly payments after that.
He said Patterson is a suspect in the theft of the remaining money — more than $900,000. If an investigation uncovers proof that she stole any or all of it, Bates can ask the judge to add that to her restitution.
“Whatever I can prove is what we are going to get a judgment for, put it that way,” he said.
He added that if the same method was used to steal the money before October 2014 as it was afterward, that would be admissible evidence in court against Patterson.
Strong gave Patterson a 10-year sentence, but suspended eight years with two years of house arrest. If she does not meet her repayment obligations, she could be sent to prison or to a restitution center, where she would live while holding a job.
Bates said he believes Patterson currently has a job.
He said the house arrest sentence does what is best for the state and for McComb.
“If she goes to prison for even six months, she loses her house and everything else, and I get for the city absolutely nothing,” he said. “The best solution for her pleading immediately was to get as much restitution as I possibly could. My goal is to recoup as much money as I possibly can that the city lost.”
He did acknowledge that, if the history of other employee embezzlement cases is a guide, the city may not get back much of what it lost.
Bates believes Patterson spent a large part of the $84,000 on health care for her family.
