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A former town clerk for Tabiona in Duchesne County has been charged in federal court with felony mail fraud for allegedly issuing herself dozens of checks out of city coffers over a four-year period, a scam that already led to 30 state charges.
Angela Curry, 36, used her job of writing checks to pay the town's expenditures in order to steal more than $217,000 from February 2006 to August 2010, according to court documents and city officials.
The amount was nearly twice the revenue the town reported in the past fiscal year.
"It's very hard to do business now when she took all the money the town had. We are surviving, but just barely," said Mayor Ronnie Giles.
The town has a population of 171.
"I hope they give her a good one. I think she needs to be punished," he said Wednesday, after learning about the federal charges.
Charges filed against Curry in U.S. District Court on Tuesday follow 30 counts of third-degree felony theft and forgery charges filed in the state's 8th District Court in August, shortly after city officials discovered Curry's alleged embezzlement.
The U.S. Attorney's Office anticipates the state charges against Curry will soon be dismissed, and that case transferred to federal court, said Melodie Rydalch, a spokeswoman for the office. An arraignment for Curry's federal mail fraud charge is set for Jan. 18 before U.S. Magistrate Paul Warner.
She faces up to 20 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000 if convicted.
Curry allegedly forged the signatures of Giles and Robert Casper, a former member of the Tabiona town board, in order to issue more than 100 checks to herself from a town account at a Wells Fargo bank branch.
Her duties also included keeping an accurate record of business expenses in a ledger to track checks written to third-party vendors, a federal charging document states.
She allegedly forged financial documents and accounting records to "falsely characterize payments as legitimate town expenses," according to the document.
Curry's mail fraud charge in federal court stems from an allegation that she sent the town's annual financial report to the state auditor's office through the mail with falsified information to conceal her embezzlement.
Curry's alleged conduct came to light when Giles, frustrated that Curry wouldn't provide him bank statements at town board meetings, went to a Wells Fargo branch to review accounts himself.
Accompanied by board member Terri Breakfield, who is Curry's mother-in-law, he discovered extra debits and canceled checks made out to Curry.
The checks contained forged signatures from Giles and Casper, because the bank needed two signatures from the board in order to process the checks, Giles said. Giles said he also called an auditor whom he believed the city had under contract, only to find out that Curry fired the auditor in 2008 without telling city officials.
It is the second time a town clerk has swindled money from city accounts, Giles said.
In April 2003, Graceann Hiseman admitted to stealing $111,735 from the town.
She entered a plea in abeyance to third-degree felony forgery, avoiding jail time. She is working to pay the town back.
Giles said the town tried to create stricter practices for financial reporting following the Hiseman ordeal. Curry took over the town clerk job from her mother-in-law, who trained Curry at the job but had no idea that her daughter-in-law allegedly planned to forge checks, he said.
"She talked me into it, and I thought it was a good idea to hire her," Giles said. "We never thought anything like this would happen."
He said he thought Curry would make a good job candidate because her husband works in law enforcement at the Duchesne County jail.
Now, he's left to explain to constituents that Tabiona doesn't have money to throw parades or an annual Easter egg hunt, or to donate to school functions.
Exactly what Curry spent the money on remains a mystery, he said.
The family took a trip to Disney World and purchased a car, but Curry has never offered an explanation of where the rest of the cash is or what it was spent on, he said.
"I never found out what she done with the money," Giles said, noting an apology from Curry would help some residents feel less anger toward the woman.
"It was terrible to happen, and I've been sick ever since."