The former treasurer of Jackson County, Kentucky, pleaded guilty today to devising a scheme to defraud the Jackson County Fiscal Court of over $160,000 and to misusing the identity of a Jackson County employee to facilitate her theft.

Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Robert M. Duncan for the Eastern District of Kentucky, and Special Agent in Charge James (Robert) Brown Jr. of the FBI’s Louisville, Kentucky Field Division and Commissioner Richard Sanders of the Kentucky State Police, made the announcement.

Beth N. Sallee, 38, of McKee, Kentucky, pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated identity theft and to one count of wire fraud. Sallee will be sentenced on June 18, 2019 before U.S. District Court Judge Claria Horn Boom for the Eastern District of Kentucky.

According to admissions made in connection with her guilty plea, Sallee admitted that beginning in 2013, she misused her position to write a number of checks, totaling approximately $161,808.23, payable to herself without the approval of the Jackson County Fiscal Court. Sallee deposited these checks into her own personal checking account or for cash. The unauthorized checks drew on various Jackson County Fiscal Court accounts, including the Department of Emergency Services grant, payroll, and general fund accounts. To enable her scheme, Sallee forged the signature of other Jackson County employees on unauthorized checks without their knowledge or permission. She later attempted to conceal her scheme by removing pages of Jackson County financial documents, obscuring page numbers with white-out, and requesting the removal of check images from bank statements that were to be given to an auditor.

The investigation was conducted by the FBI and the Kentucky State Police. The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Jessica C. Harvey of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew T. Boone of the Eastern District of Kentucky.