CORDELL — A former City of Cordell city clerk is facing a charge of embezzlement in Washita County District Court after more than $41,000 went missing.
Miranda Christianne McGaha, 39 of Cordell, faces one count of embezzlement.
Court records show the Washita County Sheriff’s Office began an investigation into the alleged embezzlement. In February of this year, Washita County Sheriff Roger Reeve requested assistance from the Oklahoma Bureau of Investigation (OSBI).
At the time, Reeve believed McGaha has allegedly embezzled the money, according to the affidavit of probable cause, filed in Washita County.
Cordell City Manager J.C. Moser and Mayor Jerry Beech had given Reeve documents from R.S. Meacham Accounting Firm, which detailed the alleged embezzlement, court records show.
In November, Moser became aware of the Cable One franchise fee check not being deposited into the City of Cordell’s General Fund. Moser contacted Cable One, who advised the city manager Cable One made the payment April 16, 2019, court records indicate.
Cable One then sent Moser a copy of the check, where Moser noticed the check was deposited into the city’s Light and Water fund, court records show.
Moser contacted McGaha and asked her to look into the issue. As part of her job, McGaha was responsible for all utility billing, other billing for services and the bank deposits, court records indicate.
In December, McGaha went into Moser’s office with her personal belongings and keys. McGaha then told Moser she had deposited some of the funds from the Cable One franchise check into the Light and Water fund, applied some of the funds to an inactive account and said she allegedly kept the remaining money for herself. McGaha was then terminated, court records indicate.
The city then hired R.S. Meacham Accounting to conduct an audit, which Dacia Phillips conducted. The audit found from September 12, 2018, to November 5, 2019, while McGaha was the city clerk, she allegedly embezzled $41,823 from the city, court records show.
OSBI Special Agent Chris Ray met with Phillips and they discussed the discrepancies Phillips had found regarding the Cable One check incident, court records indicate.
As part of the audit, Phillips looked at the cancelled check deposited into the Light and Water account. She compared that deposit to the cashiers’ receipt reports and found there was $6,645.93 less in cash and that same amount more in checks which were deposited, court records show.
Phillips traced it back to the Cable One check for $12,854.31 minus the payments to inactive accounts, which totaled $6,208.38. The difference between those two amounts is $6,645.93, court records indicate.
Further investigation revealed McGaha’s receipt report showing the posting of cash payments to inactive accounts was altered after the fact. The cashiers normally wrote “balanced” and the date and initialed the report at the bottom. The receipt report in question had no marks, court records show.
Phillips’ audit also found checks which should have been receipted and/or deposited elsewhere were deposited into the New Cordell Utilities Authority (NCUA) account to cover cash received on utility accounts which was never deposited by McGaha. McGaha allegedly neither listed the details of these checks nor the type of income it actually was, court records indicate.
The audit looked into more one discrepancy found.
In one instance, McGaha made a deposit July 16, 2019, which included a CK Energy check for $14,455. However, the audit indicated McGaha allegedly altered the deposit to $10,455 for water wells. Phillips obtained a copy of the original deposit slip and copy of the original CK Energy check which was deposited, court records show.
The audit expanded to include the city’s court funds. Phillips reviewed spreadsheets of receipts, allocations and deposit slips prepared by the court clerk and compared them to deposits which actually were deposited as fines in the general fund or as fees in the police school account, court records indicate.
The audit shows McGaha allegedly never made certain court cash deposits, which totaled about $7,376.50. the missing court cash list deposits, which should have been made by McGaha per the court clerk, were never deposited, court records show.
In one specific instance, the 2019 -08 court clerk report shows details from August 13, 2019, which shows $1,870 in cash, which should have been deposited, which is signed off by McGaha and the deposit slips with receipt numbers which were made out an allegedly never made it to the bank, court records indicate.
The audit showed examples of the actual August 2019 bank statements for the police school and general fund, which show these deposits were never made, court records show.
Phillips found McGaha allegedly embezzled about $34,446.50 in cash received for the city’s utility bill payments, and $7,376.50 in cash, which was received for the Cordell court fines and fees. That total is $41,823, court records indicate.
In March, Moser told Ray McGaha commonly would use the city’s computers and computer systems to summarize monies received and deposited. Moser also alleged McGaha used the city computers and systems in the embezzlement, court records show.
Ray tried to interview McGaha, however McGaha’s attorney, Ryan Recker, informed Ray she would not be interviewed.
A court date has not been set yet.