Former Grovetown city clerk pleads guilty to federal crimes

Former Grovetown city clerk Vicky Capetillo pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. District Court, admitting she stole from the city from 2011 through 2016.

Capetillo, 60, pleaded to theft from a federal program and money laundering. As part of the plea deal she agreed to forfeit $891,721, the total amount authorities believed she took from the city’s coffers, IRS Special Agent Jeff Hale testified Monday.

In 2015 alone, she deposited more than $186,000 in cash into her own bank account, money that she stole from the city, Hale said.

Capetillo used different schemes. One that netted her more than $756,000 in cash was using customers’ accounts to steal cash payments for city services. In September 2014, she took $13,5000 from funds the Federal Emergency Management Agency gave to Grovetown to compensate for damages from the 2014 ice storm, Hale said.

Read more: http://chronicle.augusta.com/news/2017-12-18/former-grovetown-city-clerk-pleads-guilty-federal-crimes