ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, September 7, 1996 TAG: 9609090022
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: PULASKI
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
A refund check for $1,641 from a telephone company has led to an investigation of possible embezzlement in the Pulaski County registrar's office.
County officials said that check and possibly another smaller one from Bell Atlantic had been deposited to the personal account of Phyllis Kay Hanks, the county registrar for six years, instead of to the county's accounts.
"We got a complaint from the county that the money was missing," Sheriff Ralph Dobbins said Friday. "We are conducting an investigation and, yes, the registrar is the focus of the investigation."
Hanks had come to her office as usual Friday morning but, shortly before noon, telephoned an employee who had been off Friday that she was needed at the office. No explanation was given, the employee said.
Contacted at home, Hanks said she was not in a position to answer questions or comment on the matter at this time.
The county had not suspended or relieved Hanks from her job Friday afternoon, and no charges had been filed.
"I've got a call in to the state Elections Board to find out what we're supposed to do," said A.J. Smith, chairman of the county Electoral Board. "And we will act accordingly. ... I've certainly never been faced with a deal like this."
"It is getting a thorough investigation," County Administrator Joe Morgan said. "We would want to afford the registrar all due process until there is a resolution." He said he had learned of the investigation Thursday and hoped it would move forward quickly.
Treasurer Rose Marie Tickle said refund checks from Bell Atlantic telephone charges had been sent to a number of county offices as reimbursements for over-collections. But the total refunds deposited with the county totaled less than the total sent by the company, she said.
In reconciling the amounts, she said, her office found that checks to the registrar's office had not been deposited with the county. Tickle said there were apparently two checks involved but, as of Friday, she had only seen a copy if the larger one. She turned the matter over to the Sheriff's Office.
Dobbins said his office had gotten one of the refund checks, too. "I mean, everybody got one." He said the one he received was deposited to the county, which is standard practice.
The refund checks to the registrar were in the amounts of $1,641 and $69, he said.
He said his office had made the county administrator and Commonwealth's Attorney Everett Shockley "fully aware of what we know," although no written documentation had gone to Shockley yet. "We do plan to submit a case to the commonwealth's attorney for his review," Dobbins said.
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