Former small-town official accused of stealing $937K from Washington city

The former clerk-treasurer in the tiny town of Morton, Washington, is accused of stealing upwards of $900,000 from the city over nearly nine years.

A state audit released on Monday found the clerk-treasurer “misappropriated” $937,584 from the city coffers between 2013 and 2021 using unauthorized ATM withdrawals and other methods – including taking customer cash payments that she did not deposit at the bank and writing city checks to herself and recording them in the city’s accounting system as vendor payments.

Morton, located in Lewis County, southwest of Mount Rainier, has about 1,100 residents and an annual budget of around $4.6 million.

The auditor’s office said it would refer the case to the Lewis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office and that the city has filed a report with its police department, which is investigating the matter. The findings from the audit will be provided to law enforcement.

https://washingtonstatestandard.com/2024/08/26/former-small-town-official-accused-of-stealing-937k-from-morton-washington/