Auditor: Clerk must replace missing money

By By Suzanne Monk / managing editor
July 11, 2002
A former clerk with the Meridian Police Department will repay thousands of dollars she admits stealing from the station's front desk between February 2001 and May 2001.
Investigators from State Auditor Phil Bryant's office reviewed the police department's records and determined that the amount embezzled by Vivian Groves was $2,971.
Bryant issued a demand letter to Groves this week for $5,097.34 the stolen money plus $478.34 in interest and $1,648 in investigative costs.
The thefts came to light in May 2001, when cash and checks were discovered missing from the MPD's bank deposits.
Groves admitted her guilt, but said she had a partner in the embezzlement scheme senior police officer Rita Jack. Both were suspended and, ultimately, fired.
Jack was never arrested and has denied the charges ever since. District Attorney Bilbo Mitchell presented the case against Jack to a Lauderdale County grand jury in November, but the panel declined to indict her.
Groves was not prosecuted.
Meanwhile, Jack is appealing her termination from the police department to the Meridian Civil Service Commission. A hearing into the matter began on May 2, and is scheduled to resume on July 27.
A spokesman for the auditor's office said there are no plans "at this time" to issue a demand letter to Jack.