Police investigating $36,547 theft at revenue office

The Arkansas State Police continues to investigate after more than $36,000 was reported missing from the state revenue office in Jacksonville about a month and a half ago, authorities said.

Jacksonville police were called to a theft at the revenue office on Oct. 2 after an employee found that $36,547.70 was missing from a safe, according to a police report. No arrests have been made in the case, and the agency is working with Jacksonville police, said state police spokesman Bill Sadler.

The state’s Department of Finance and Administration requested state police help in the case, he said.

The funds were placed in a safe at the office on Friday, Sept. 29, and by Monday, Oct. 2, the funds were missing, said Scott Hardin, a spokesman for the Department of Finance and Administration.

“We really just don’t know specifically what took place that allowed someone to take those funds,” he said, describing the theft as a “rare, isolated incident.” The funds, he said, were not misplaced by office personnel.

A police report shows that $19,888.24 of the funds was in the form of checks and money orders and $16,659.46 was cash.

According to the report, police spoke with revenue office manager Carla Turley, who said that about 4:30 p.m. Sept. 29, all the employees were putting deposits into a bank bag.

Turley told authorities that her assistant manager, Jacqueline Johnson, took the inventory of the bag before securing it in a “tote” bag and putting it in the safe. Turley said she left about 5 p.m. and that Johnson was in the room getting changed for a separate job at Wal-Mart, according to the report.

When Turley returned Monday morning, the office doors were locked — like they were supposed to be — but when she opened the safe, all the funds were gone, according to the report.

Authorities also spoke with Johnson, who reported that she saw all of the cash and checks in the bank bag on that Friday, according to the report.

Johnson told police “she was escorted to the safe by Turley, as is customary, and secured the bank bag, tote, and daily report in the safe.” According to the report, Johnson said she then spent 10 minutes in the same room with the safe as she changed for her job at Wal-Mart, then left the office. She told police she was informed about the theft after going in for work days later, on that Monday.

A police officer noted in the report that there did not appear to be any forced entry.

In a written statement, Hardin said it is the understanding of the Department of Finance and Administration that the funds were placed in the safe that Friday.

The department, he said, contacted customers who wrote checks to the department and told them to cancel them. He said the department would not require people who paid in cash to repay.