LAUREL, Miss. (AP) - A county supervisor has been indicted on embezzlement and fraud charges for allegedly being reimbursed twice for the same expenses and keeping proceeds from the sale of a county-owned pickup truck, Mississippi’s auditor said Tuesday.
Auditor Shad White said Jones County Supervisor Jerome Wyatt was arrested Tuesday. It was not immediately clear whether Wyatt has an attorney, and Wyatt did not immediately answer a call to his office seeking his comment.
White said Wyatt was involved in mentoring a group that he founded for at-risk boys at Laurel Middle School. The group, called “The Gentlemen’s Club,” provides field trips, blazers for members and incentives for students who make good grades. The group pays expenses from public money in a school account. White said Wyatt was reimbursed for expenses through that account and received separate payment from the county for the same expenses.
Wyatt also approved overtime payments from county funds for a Jones County employee who drove for a mentoring club field trip to Alabama one weekend in March, White said. The county employee had already been paid by the school fund.
“Supervisor Wyatt took money dedicated to a mentorship program for young men for his own personal benefit,” White said in a news release. “Those young men deserve better. Our schools deserve better. The case as a whole shows Wyatt was willing to take advantage of the taxpayers of Jones County, and now he needs to be held accountable.”
The auditor also said supervisors voted to sell a 1997 Ford F-350 for scrap in May 2017 and Jones County never received the money. Auditor’s office investigators found that the pickup was sold to a salvage yard in Lamar County by a person acting on behalf of Wyatt.
Wyatt is accused of fraudulently approving payments or embezzling $2,820, White said. With interest and investigative costs, the supervisor owes $6,076.
If convicted, Wyatt could face a maximum of 45 years in prison and $25,000 in fines.
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