Spa City man jailed in embezzlement case

HOT SPRINGS — An employee of a Hot Springs company who is accused of embezzling more than $199,000 in company funds was arrested Thursday evening less than two hours after police posted his photo on social media.

Randall Allen Morris, 51, who lists a Leach Street address, was taken into custody around 6:30 p.m. at the Garland County Library where he was recognized by a security guard, who called police.

Morris was charged with theft of property of more than $25,000, a felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

Morris, an employee of Flossie’s Funnel Cakes, appeared via video Friday morning in Garland County District Court and pleaded innocent to the charge. A felony review hearing to determine if the case will be transferred to Garland County Circuit Court is scheduled for Feb. 5.

Morris remained in custody Friday in lieu of $50,000 bond, and Judge Ralph Ohm granted a motion for a gag order in the case to limit pretrial publicity.

Morris reportedly posted on social media that he planned to move out of the country in January, so he also was ordered to surrender his passport within 24 hours.

According to a probable cause affidavit, police on Nov. 3 went to Flossie’s, at 226 Castleberry St., in response to a reported theft. Police spoke to employees who said they had logged onto the company’s PayPal account that day and discovered that another employee, identified as Morris, had made numerous transactions from the company’s account into his own private PayPal account.

The transactions occurred several times each month from January to October 2017, ranging in amounts from $52 to more than $1,800, according to the affidavit. The employees told police that none of the transactions were authorized.

Detective Patrick Langley received documentation from Flossie’s corporate accounting firm, dated Dec. 7, that noted that Morris had diverted funds to himself and to unauthorized websites, the affidavit said. It was determined that Morris diverted $134,038 into his account and $65,076.51 to the websites for his personal benefit, the affidavit said. The total amount of funds diverted was $199,114.51, according to the affidavit.

A warrant was issued for Morris’ arrest, and police posted his photo on social media asking for help in locating him.