A former bookkeeper for the Whiteland Fire Department has been ordered to repay more than $80,000 after a state audit.
Divonna Hendrickson, 53, of Franklin, is also facing five felony charges of theft after an investigation showed that checks were written and deposited into her account and that unauthorized purchases were made on the fire department’s credit card, according to an Indiana State Board of Accounts investigation.
According to the investigation, Hendrickson had received more than $60,000 in checks from 2010 to 2017 from the fire department, but had only been owed $6,600 during that time for a clothing allowance, ambulance runs and her duties as secretary/treasurer.
The investigation also showed Hendrickson had written three checks to cash, totaling $791. The fire department’s credit card had also been used for personal purchases, including groceries, personal items, clothing and toys, totaling $6,430, according to the investigation report.
Hendrickson was ordered to repay the missing money, along with the more than $19,500 cost of the investigation, the report said.
Hendrickson was arrested in January after an investigation by the town uncovered the missing money. Town officials had been going through records as part of the preparations for a possible merger, where the fire department would be run by the town, instead of as a separate entity as a fire district.
She had worked as a firefighter for the department and volunteered as the secretary/treasurer for 10 years. After the missing money was discovered, Hendrickson told investigators she had taken the money and altered the records, and that she needed it to help her children.
Mike Kyle, Hendrickson’s attorney, declined to comment while the criminal case is pending.
According to the audit, Hendrickson was responsible for all aspects of fire department financial activity, including preparing checks, depositing receipts, recording financial transactions, and reconciling the bank accounts. No ongoing oversight was required by anyone else.
“Due to this lack of segregation of duties, the checks issued without supporting documentation, undocumented and unsupported credit card purchases, and undocumented cash payments, were able to occur and not be identified timely,” the audit said.
Under the rules at the time, Hendrickson and the fire chief would both need to sign any checks from the department, but she also was allowed to sign them on her own if the chief couldn’t. But the department didn’t have a process to reconcile the accounts, town officials said.
Since the theft was discovered, the town manager and his assistant have been handling the fire department’s expenses, requiring both signatures and accounts are reconciled monthly.
Officials said at the time the amount taken did not have a significant impact on the fire department, which has a contract for $250,000 to provide fire service to the town of Whiteland and some of the rural area around it. Officials hadn’t noticed the money was missing until the investigation began.
