MARIETTA – Love County’s former treasurer indicted in August by the 20th multicounty grand jury pleaded guilty last week to seven felony counts of embezzlement.
Lorry Hull, 46, of Ardmore, was indicted on complaints of stealing $21,499 of “public money” over a one-month period (July 9 – Aug. 11) in 2020. She admitted her guilt on Nov. 5.
District Judge Wallace Coppedge gave Hull a fiveyear suspended prison sentence on each of the seven charges but ordered her to pay restitution of $16,009 at the rate of $100 per month. Hull also must pay $2,204 in court costs and incarceration fees, plus $315 in victim compensation assessments, at the rate of $10 per month Hull was the Love County Treasurer for seven years, 2013-2020.
The charges allege Hull “willfully, unlawfully, and feloniously convert[ed] public property to her own use...”
She was accused of cashing and pocketing a treasurer’s check issued on Aug. 11, 2020, for “the alleged release of protest taxes”; a check from the Housing Authority of the Chickasaw Nation for a payment in lieu of taxes; and five depository vouchers.
The misappropriations were discovered during an investigative audit of the Love County Treasurer’s Office performed by the staff of State Auditor and Inspector Cindy Byrd, who submitted her report on Oct. 16, 2023.
Love County Treasurer deputies attempted to assist the State Auditor’s staff “but were unable to log into the online banking due to Hull” having changed the password, Byrd wrote.
A “potential misappropriation of funds” in the treasurer’s office was noted by an unidentified county employee in August 2020, and their concern was “communicated to the Board of County Commissioners,” who in turn requested a forensic audit of “the accounts of former Love County Treasurer Lorry Hull.”
The Oklahoma Tax Commission filed a tax warrant against Hull for failure to pay income taxes in 2018 and 2019. A garnishment affidavit in the Love County court file shows that on Nov. 6, 2023, Hull owed the OTC $15,507 for unpaid taxes, interest, penalties, collection fees, court costs and other fees.
Five weeks later the Tax Commission withdrew and suspended the garnishment proceeding. No explanation was provided in the court record.