CHANDLER – Three former town officials in Tryon are accused collectively of embezzling more than $90,000 from the small Lincoln County community.
Jered DeWayne Prickett, 47, of Tryon was previously the town’s police chief, utility operator and animal control officer; he is named in two embezzlement charges and one count of conspiracy. His wife, Candace Marie Prickett, 47, was the town’s clerk-treasurer and utility assistant; she faces one count of embezzlement and one of conspiracy.
Also charged was Jessica Marie Turpin, 32, of Tryon, who is named in one count of embezzlement. She was the town’s utility clerk and court clerk.
During a Sept. 15 preliminary hearing conference for the Pricketts, attorney Max C. Myers of Yale appeared on behalf of the couple and filed a motion for discovery of “all materials and information within the prosecutor’s possession or control” that pertain to the case.
Turpin’s hearing in Lincoln County District Court, originally set for Aug. 18, was rescheduled for Oct. 13. She is represented by Chandler attorney Larry K. Lenora.
The Pricketts and Turpin “performed essential town functions and were primarily responsible for the Town’s day-to-day operations,” according to State Auditor and Inspector Cindy Byrd.
The state auditor’s office performed a special investigative probe of the town’s books after Tryon’s Board of Trustees “requested an audit of questionable financial activity” of the three former employees, Byrd related in her report submitted in February.
Byrd and her staff identified “misappropriations” that totaled more than $95,000 and occurred between New Year’s Day 2013 and mid-May 2019. The criminal charges filed May 10 by District Attorney Allan Grubb allege that the money was siphoned off in the form of excess salary, excess holiday pay, vacation pay and overtime pay for the three employees.
Tryon has a municipal budget of approximately $750,000, Byrd wrote. The 2010 decennial census estimated Tryon’s population as just under 450; the latest population estimate is about 350.
State audit findings
• The Pricketts and Turpin misappropriated $79,320 in payroll, the state audit revealed. The improper payments consisted of excess salary, excess holiday pay, vacation pay and overtime pay, Byrd wrote.
All three employees also improperly received hazard pay, “asserting that eight additional hours of pay could be claimed any time they worked on the sewer system regardless of the actual number of hours worked.” The majority of the unauthorized payroll amount was paid to Jered Prickett, Byrd said.
• Jered Prickett amassed more than $3,700 in “questionable” credit card charges, Byrd reported. “These expenses consisted of a combination of improper fuel purchases, along with other personal transactions such as food, medical care, and deer hunting supplies.”
• Jered Prickett also used town funds to buy six firearms, totaling $3,330, the state audit showed. The guns were not located in the town’s inventory, Byrd said.
• Donations totaling $3,960 that were made to the Tryon Police Department were not deposited into the town’s bank account, Byrd found. “The checks were either cashed out by Prickett or deposited into his personal bank account.”
• Prickett also misappropriated $4,866.50 from the Tryon Police Auxiliary bank account via cash and ATM withdrawals, Byrd reported. Six of the ATM withdrawals occurred at local area casinos. “The person in charge of law enforcement appears to have been breaking the law,” Byrd noted.
• Jered Prickett reported W-2 earnings of $106,000 in 2018, Byrd disclosed in her audit.
• The town’s bank account was overdrawn by approximately $8,000.
• The town was “several months behind on paying its bills.”
• Municipal purchase orders “were being pre-signed.”
• Credit card statements “were being paid but not shown to the Board of Trustees.”
Police chief resigns,
vows to pay restitution
Jered Prickett submitted his resignation via email to Town Attorney Anthony R. Seeberger of Cushing on June 2, 2019, effective 11 days later.
“This way the reserves can work until an interim Chief is named and the resignation can be accepted” by the trustees, he wrote. “However I will not be working or have possession of any of the towns equipment during that lapse in time.”
Prickett vowed he would repay the town for fuel he pumped into his personal vehicle but charged to the town on its credit card.
A previous employee “was terminated for the same thing,” but “in lieu of pursuing criminal charges the Town board of Trustees allowed him to repay” the debt “over a period of 60-90 days,” Prickett claimed. “[I]t is within the law to allow it,” he added.
Prickett admitted he used the town’s tractor as collateral on a bank loan.
“I have contacted my banker and had it removed from the loan,” he wrote in his emailed resignation letter. “It was done solely for the purpose of obtaining a lower interest rate.”
He said he had two Glock pistols “that belongs to the town that will be in my inventory.”
He also indicated he would pay for a rifle that apparently belongs to the town.
“I honestly thought I had written a check out of my personal account covering the cost of that rifle back to the town,” he wrote.
Prickett asked that he be informed of the amount he should repay for the fuel card and the rifle.
“Also, as for my vacation time that has accrued and regardless of the scenario should be paid to me, I ask that those monies be used towards what is owed.”
The sick time “that is maxed out I am not worried about,” he wrote. “I plan on paying this amount as soon as I’m told how much it is.”
In closing, Prickett wrote, “I have no excuses for the things that have happened. I violated your trust in me and for that I hold myself accountable. I ask that these matters be in executive session at the [Board of Trustees] meeting and that any and all slander or talks about this issue be kept between board members.”
Felony charges filed
• Jered Prickett is charged with two counts of embezzlement and one count of conspiracy that allegedly occurred between Jan. 1, 2013, and May 13, 2019.
In Count 1, he is accused of depositing into his personal bank account four checks totaling $3,960 in donations to the Tryon Police Department; using the Town of Tryon Police Authority’s sole bank debit card to make withdrawals totaling $4,866.50 for personal use; and using the town’s Conoco Phillips fuel credit card for personal use totaling $2,964.35. Those amounted to almost $11,791.
In Count 2, he is accused of fraudulently misappropriating funds for unauthorized payments that totaled nearly $71,000, including: $25,401.21 of improper holiday pay; 19 extra payroll checks that amounted to $18,672.96; more than 700 hours of unearned vacation time that totaled $15,170.90; almost 600 hours of undocumented overtime pay totaling $11,217.62; and 42 hours of hazard pay totaling $525.
Count 3 accused Jered Prickett of “conspiring and agreeing with Candace Marie Prickett and Jessica Marie Turpin to commit the crime of embezzlement … by defrauding the City of Tryon through various misappropriations of money…”
• Candace Prickett is charged with embezzling $5,212.50. Between Jan. 1, 2017, and May 13, 2019, the accusation says, she fraudulently misappropriated funds for “unauthorized payments” that included 119 hours of unearned vacation time totaling $1,487.50, plus 272 hours of unauthorized hazard pay that totaled $3,400 and $325 of improper holiday pay.
She also is accused of conspiring with her husband and Turpin to commit embezzlement.
• Jessica Turpin is accused of committing embezzlement between Jan. 1, 2017, and May 13, 2019, by “fraudulently appropriating” $3,120 for 280 hours of hazard pay that was “unapproved and unauthorized” by the town’s trustees.
Turpin is also accused of conspiring with the Pricketts to commit the crime of embezzlement.