Documents: Former Woodruff City Clerk Overpaid Herself $45,000

Personnel documents obtained by WSPA reveal that a city employee is accused of paying herself an extra $45,000 over three years.

Beverly Maddox, 56, was terminated last week by the city of Woodruff after working for the city for 37 years, 34 of those in the dual role of clerk/treasurer. Upon request of the city, State Law Enforcement Division is investigating Maddox.

WSPA submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to examine Maddox’s personnel file. This uncovered two memorandums written by city manager Stephen Steese detailing the reason for Maddox’s termination along with a voluntary statement written by Maddox for SLED. Click here to see memo #1 and memo #2. It also uncovered the results of three independent audits which detail Maddox’s compensation.

Her annual salary, according to documents, was $45,000. The audits, conducted by certified public accounting firm Greene Finney & Horton, state that Maddox paid herself an additional $19,477.01 in fiscal year 2008-09; an extra $9,128.12 in FY 2007-08; and an extra $16,843.78 in FY 2006-07—for a total of $45,449 over three years. The payments were made via direct deposit and checks.

The audits (click here to read the three audits) determined that she did this by paying herself for extra vacation days, comp time, holiday pay and sick time that she did not have. The audits state much of this occurred during times when Woodruff did not have a city manager or Maddox was acting as interim city manager.

Greene Finney & Horton is the same firm that conducts the city’s annual audit. News Channel 7 asked Steese why - if the alleged fraud occurred in the two previous years - was it only recently discovered?

He said that’s because in FY ‘06-‘07 and ‘07-‘08, the employees’ salary section of the budget still came in underbudget.

“It wasn’t until the most recent audit (for ‘08-‘09) that the city clerk’s position was overbudget,“ said Steese. “That prompted us to ask the auditor to do a deeper examination into the clerk’s salary and that’s when we found the discrepancies. We then asked them to look at previous years and that’s when we found discrepancies in ‘06-‘07 and ‘07-‘08.“

The two memorandums written by Steese detail his confrontation with Maddox over the alleged fraud. In one memo dated August 13th, Steese writes that he brought Maddox into his office three days earlier and showed her the findings of the audit.

“(Maddox) stated she ran into some financial problems and cashed in some vacation and comp time. She also stated that she didn’t think she had done anything wrong,“ says the memo. It goes on to say a special council meeting was held on August 12th and council was informed of Steese’s decision to terminate Maddox and that all information would be turned over to SLED.

In the second memo dated August 14th, Steese writes that Maddox and her sister, Brenda Casey, came to his office for a meeting. He informed her that she was being terminated “for cause for failure to perform the job she was hired for”. She was then told that a SLED agent was waiting to talk with her about the situation.

The memo states that Maddox “then admitted that she had overpaid herself, but didn’t realize how much it was until she did the W-2s for the tax year”.

“She said she did it because (a relative) needed the money and that she was supporting two houses,“ says the memo.

SLED Statement

Maddox’s personnel file also contains a voluntary statement which she wrote for SLED on August 13th. She writes, “no one knew this but me. My huband was not aware and no one in the office (knew).“

She also writes the money “did not go for vacations or such but did help go to pay credit cards and help family members”. She also wrote that she is “sorry for the hurt I have done, and if I’m allowed I would like the opportunity to pay these funds back”.

Maddox declined comment for this story. But her sister, who attended the August 13th meeting with her, says this is completely out of character for Maddox and that everyone in Woodruff knows that.

“She is a sweet, wonderful woman who would do anything for her family,“ says Casey. “She knows what she did was wrong. We love her and are going to stand by her and see this through to the end.“

Steese says the ordeal will likely result in changes to how employee salary records are kept and changes to other policies. The city has a policy under which employees can “cash in” unused vacation and sick time at the end of the year. He says he is now reviewing this policy and considering changing it.

To see Chris Cato’s interview with Steese, click on the video tab above.