OKLAHOMA CITY – The former Town Clerk/Treasurer at Coyle alleged to have “misappropriated” $63,664 of municipal funds in two years faces trial in Logan County District Court on six felony charges.
Jennifer Jones, 39, of Guthrie, is alleged to have embezzled cash and checks received for utility payments and deposits, fire department dues and payments, and citation payments, State Auditor and Inspector Cindy Byrd wrote in her department’s report on their forensic audit of Coyle’s town records.
“An additional $6,219 of questioned costs were related to unauthorized payroll payments” to Ms. Jones and her former husband, William Casey Jones, 39, who at the time was also a Town of Coyle employee. The couple was granted a divorce on Sept. 5.
Coyle, a Logan County community with an estimated population of 365, receives an average of $301,000 in annual revenue. The suspected embezzlement cited in the state audit constituted 20% of the town’s annual revenues during the twoyear period of January 2018 and December 30, 2019.
District Attorney Laura Austin Thomas charged Ms. Jones on April 11 with three counts of embezzlement, two counts of making false entries relating to expenditures of public funds, and a violation of the Oklahoma Computer Crimes Act.
Jones was arraigned on Oct. 4 and was bound over for trial; the court record did not specify a trial date. She was released from custody April 16 on a $25,000 appearance bond posted by an agent of Curt Pletcher of Springer, Oklahoma. Ms. Jones is represented by Oklahoma City attorney Irven Box.
Although fraud detected, it continued for 15 months One transaction cited in the state audit occurred on Sept. 26, 2018, when Ms. Jones attempted to deposit – into her personal bank account – a check for $3,252.17 issued by the Casinos Consolidated Iowa Tribe to the Town of Coyle. The tribe owns/operates Cimarron Bend Casino in Coyle.
Bank personnel refused to deposit the funds into Jones’ account.
A bank fraud manager wrote in an email to “Consumer Due Diligence” on that date that during his conversation with Jones, she “admitted to me that she took” four checks totaling $2,593.88, paid to the Town of Coyle in August and September 2018, and deposited them into her personal account. Jones “said she would … repay stolen funds to Coyle” and would “bring this account positive by the end of the week,” the official wrote. The bank closed her account that day.
When her attempt to deposit the tribal check into her personal account was thwarted, Ms. Jones deposited the check into the town’s general fund bank account “and improperly credited four general ledger accounts,” state auditors related.
Despite Ms. Jones’ suspicious activity, apparently it was not reported to town officials, because the alleged thefts continued for another 15 months, the state audit showed.
Jones told state auditors she was hired by the town in August 2017. Between Jan. 1, 2018, and Dec. 16, 2019, Jones “misappropriated” more than 450 utility payments that totaled $49,671, the audit found. The payments were credited to customer utility accounts but were never deposited into a town bank account, auditors learned.
During that time frame, cash was entered as a payment method fewer than 20 times – yet “numerous customers stated they paid with cash,” and several of them provided receipts documenting their payments.
The state audit includes photocopies of two cash payments that Jones logged into the utility system as credit card payments without depositing the cash.
One customer provided an affidavit stating that during the nearly two-year period examined in the state audit, she made 23 cash payments and one by check; each payment was for multiple accounts. The 23 cash payments resulted in 93 credits to her seven accounts “without any corresponding cash deposits” having been made, auditors discovered.
Ms. Jones “misappropriated” 20 utility payments totaling $2,471 and 58 other receipted payments totaling $7,020, state auditors alleged. Allegations spelled out One of the embezzlement charges accuses Jones of appropriating and diverting “to her own personal use and benefit” $54,673.93 that was “entrusted to her for the specific purpose of utility payments to the Town of Coyle…” A second embezzlement charge alleges she converted and appropriated “to her own use and benefit” $1,480 “entrusted to her for the specific purpose of the Coyle Fire Department…” The third embezzlement charge accuses Jones of converting and appropriating “to her own use and benefit” $7,510 “entrusted to her for the specific purpose of citations or other items belonging in the General Fund for the Town of Coyle…” One of the false entry charges claims that on Jan. 19, 2018, Jones recorded in the town’s accounting system a $5,912.48 payment made by Coyle Public School, and a $2,666.33 payment made by Cimarron Casino Enterprises – when in fact the school made a $7,246.64 payment by check and the casino made a $3,252.17 payment by check.
The other false entry charge alleges that on Feb. 26, 2018, Jones logged in the town’s accounting system a $6,338.32 payment by Coyle Public School and a $2,540.02 payment by Cimarron Casino Enterprises – when actually the school made a $7,050.47 payment by check and the casino made a $3,252.17 payment by check.
The computer crimes charge accused Ms. Jones of “willfully, intentionally and unlawfully” using a computer and a computer system belonging to the Town of Coyle “for the purpose of executing a scheme to misappropriate public funds with the intent to defraud and deceive” the town “and for the purpose of obtaining money by means of fraudulent and false representations…” Gambling suspected In yet another related matter, when Ms. Jones was fired on Dec. 16, 2019, the town’s cash box should have contained $200 but had only $12, leaving $188 unaccounted for. Town Trustee JoAnn Hale, a certified public accountant who is credited with uncovering the alleged thefts, said Ms. Jones admitted taking the $188, according to a state auditor’s report on the investigation.
In 2018 and 2019, Ms. Jones made five cash deposits totaling $1,097 into the Coyle Public Works Authority and the town’s Water Deposit accounts. In 2020, the year after her departure, $23,475 was deposited into those accounts, ledgers showed.
“It should be noted that between Jan. 1, 2018, and Dec. 31, 2020, Jennifer Jones deposited $24,189 cash into three personal bank accounts,” State Auditor Byrd emphasized.
During an interview with state auditors in November 2023, Ms. Jones said she “had no explanation” for the many discrepancies auditors found in Coyle deposits and receipts, but did admit she agreed to repay the money missing from the petty cash fund.
Gambling may have been a factor in the Joneses’ case. Jennifer Jones told auditors that in December 2018 she “walked out of the Cimarron with $16,000,” and said she and her husband “did most of their gambling in Perkins,” which is about 14 miles east of Coyle. The Iowa Tribe operates Cimarron casinos in both towns. Trustee assisted auditors Trustee Hale completed a review of the town’s payroll “and determined that excess payroll payments had been made” to both Jennifer and Casey Jones. He worked for the town as a handyman (mowing the grass, repairing leaks, etc.) and a meter reader; Coyle has approximately 150 water meters, a town official reported.
The now-divorced couple signed an agreement to repay the money by automatic payroll deduction. That agreement states, “Should our employment be terminated with the Town of Coyle/Coyle Public Works Authority, the amounts owing will immediately become due…” Restitution payments started in August 2019 and ended when the couple were fired: Casey Jones in September 2019 and Jennifer Jones in December 2019.
The final audit report recommends the Town of Coyle stop accepting cash as a form of payment. At a minimum, if cash continues to be accepted, the town trustees should conduct a monthly review of bank statements.
The State Auditor’s Office billed Coyle $27,198 for the in-depth audit of its books.