Shortly after Cory DeRoin was appointed mayor of Red Rock in September or October 2022 – the previous mayor, Jim Potter, died in July 2022 – DeRoin began requesting bank statements from Jolavon Childs, then the clerk-treasurer of the Noble County town.
DeRoin eventually gained access to the city’s records “and noted discrepancies in the number and amounts of checks issued to” Childs.
For example, 94 checks issued to her in 2019 totaled more than $80,000, but her credited salary reported to the Internal Revenue Service on a W-2 was a little over $31,500.
Similarly, 64 checks issued to Childs in 2022 totaled more than $83,000, but her credited salary reported to the IRS on a W-2 form was $26,934.
No documentation could be found for any payroll tax reporting or a W-2 for Childs’ salary for 2023, state auditor Geoffrey Morley reported.
Between Jan. 1, 2019, and Dec. 31, 2023, Jolavon Childs misappropriated $241,752.37 involving 368 transactions, a state forensic audit revealed. Those included 336 checks written to herself, checks made out to “Cash,” checks issued to the “Town of Red Rock,” and cash withdrawals from the bank. The total also included undeposited utility revenue.
All of the documents associated with the misappropriations were signed, endorsed, or cashed by Childs, State Auditor and Inspector Cindy Byrd reported. Twenty-three of the 26 checks made out to “Cash” or the “Town of Red Rock” and cashed by Childs were signed and approved by her alone.
Childs “admitted that 90% of all checks were pre-signed by former Mayor Potter or by a board member, usually Laetitia Atkins” – Jolavon Childs’ niece – “because she worked the closest to Town Hall,” Morley reported.
DeRoin said he “offered Childs a chance to supply receipts for checks payable to her that she claimed were reimbursements.”
Childs provided some documents to DeRoin, and he in turn gave the information to the Noble County Sheriff’s Office.
Morley reviewed the documentation and found that Childs’ fuel reimbursement receipts “contained several different debit and credit card numbers.”
In addition, there also were multiple fuel receipts “on the same day with different fuel types (unleaded or diesel),” and “some of the times were between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m.,” Morley wrote. “These issues call into question the legitimacy of the receipts as town-related purchases.”
Between Jan. 1, 2019, and Nov. 30, 2023, about the time Childs quit, she deposited $4,513 in “personal monies” into the town’s General Fund bank account, Morley wrote.
“The exact reason for the personal payments could not be determined.”
Noble County Election Board records reflect Jolavon Childs ran unopposed for the post of town clerk/treasurer “multiple times dating back to February 2003,” Morley found.
Childs served as the town’s elected clerk/ treasurer and the PWA utility clerk for more than 20 years before resigning. She managed the payment of Town and PWA expenses; administered payroll; handled the billing, collection, and deposits of utility revenue; and signed checks.
Her duties also included maintaining board minutes. However, Mayor DeRoin and town Trustees Rosa Tohee and Laetitia Atkins all told SA&I interviewers that they had not seen any meeting minutes nor any municipal ordinances.
In a follow-up telephone interview April 24, 2024, Morley wrote that DeRoin told him a search of Childs’ computer files found no minutes or ordinances.
“The only thing that could be located was the agenda for the June 14, 2023, meeting,” Morley reported. Town officials did locate “some older resolutions and ordinances,” but none of them was issued after 2007, Morley wrote.
The Noble County Clerk was contacted to see whether her office had a copy of Red Rock’s Town Charter or ordinances, “but they were unable to locate any records,” Morley said.
Treasurer’s husband was paid $42,595 Roy Childs received 58 checks totaling $42,595 in 2019-2023.
Records are not clear on whether Jolavon and Roy were married or divorced during the years Red Rock records were audited by the state.
Of those checks, 38 lacked any supporting documentation.
For the remaining 20 checks, carbon copies of the checks and/or check stubs were found indicating that the payments were for “mowing and weed eating” services for Town and/ or PWA properties.
The documentation mentioned that these services were provided per an agreement, but no such agreement could be located “and the expenditures did not contain invoices,” state auditors reported. Furthermore, “no minutes or ordinances could be located regarding the hiring of Roy Childs.”
“If Roy Childs had been employed prior to Jolavon being elected, the employment would have been allowable,” Byrd wrote. However, state auditors found “no evidence he had been employed with the Town prior to Jolavon’s elected service.”
Consequently, Byrd wrote, the employment and payment of Roy Childs “resulted in a prohibited indirect gain for Jolavon Childs and violated state law.”
The Town of Red Rock “should not have employed or paid Childs’ spouse.”
Title 11 of State Statutes prohibits an elected official from appointing any person related by affinity or consanguinity within the third degree to a governing body member or to themselves, to any position of profit within the municipal government.
Article 10 § 11 of the state Constitution prohibits any elected town officer from indirectly receiving prohibited “interests, profits or perquisites” which includes payments made to the officer’s spouse. This prohibition applies to the use of public funds and any monies raised for the purpose of the town. Violations of this provision can lead to disqualification from holding office and “shall be deemed” a felony, Byrd noted.
Additionally, besides the relationship between Jolavon and Roy Childs, trustee Atkins is Jolavon Childs’ niece.
Childs’ replacement overpaid, audit showed Michelle Cline-Cameron was hired to replace Jolavon Childs as Red Rock’s Town Clerk on Dec. 30, 2023, “and immediately started misappropriating funds,” Byrd said.
“She was able to do this because the Board members signed blank checks in advance.
She then wrote checks to herself and cashed them.”
No official minutes or documentation detailing Cline-Cameron’s hiring or approved pay rate were found. According to board members and Cline-Cameron, she was to be paid $800 per month for working 16 hours per week. She resigned on May 28, 2024 – but admitted having taken advanced pay for the month of June 2024 during the month of May 2024, Morley wrote in his report.
Vanessa Rocha, who was sworn in as town treasurer on Valentine’s Day this year, told Morley on June 19 that as a parting shot, Cline-Cameron deleted the username and password from the town’s Waterworks utility billing software, which hampered town officials’ ability to access the system and retrieve customer accounts.
During an interview with two SA&I employees on Dec. 11, 2023, Mayor DeRoin said Red Rock’s PWA had “roughly 106 customers” and the town buys its water from the Otoe-Missouria Tribe.
From Dec. 30, 2023, to May 28, 2024, Cline-Cameron received $5,700 in excess of her allowable pay.
During her five-month employment, she received $10,000. Her approved pay for this period was $4,300, resulting in a misappropriation of $5,700.
The excess money included two checks signed by Laetitia Atkins dated March 12, 2024, and April 9, 2024. Atkins resigned from the town board in February 2024, Morley said, and she confirmed that she had not signed any checks since December 2023.
Atkins admitted that it was common practice before December 2023 to pre-sign blank checks, Byrd wrote.
Employee feud Michelle Cline-Cameron told state auditors she was hired on or about Dec. 30, 2023, to work four days a week from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., at a pre-tax salary of $800 per month.
Jose Macias was hired in November 2023 to be the town’s water superintendent, at a salary of $1,250 per month. He also was paid extra for turning water meters back on for customers whose service was disconnected.
Cline-Cameron complained to Morley that Macias “is never at work,” “sleeps all day and the Department of Environmental Quality can never reach him,” and said his girlfriend is Mayor DeRoin’s cousin.
Former board member Gina Conneywerdy told Morley that Cline-Cameron “always seemed to have an issue with Macias and thought he “should work in the office 40 hours a week” since he was paid more than her. Cameron “never could understand the concept that Macias was on call 24 hours a day…” Connywerdy “believed she was appointed on March 15, 2024,” but resigned less than a week later, on March 21, state auditors reported. She has since been replaced by Lacy Pratt, DeRoin told state auditors on Sept. 30.