KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The former bookkeeper for a Clinton County, Missouri, road district misappropriated more than $286,000 over seven years, State Auditor Nicole Galloway said Wednesday.
In a news release, Galloway said that Plattsburg Special Road District secretary/treasurer Ava Langner falsified financial statements to hide those misappropriations, which included more than $125,000 in district funds to pay her personal credit card bills.
Statements showed Langner spent more than $14,000 on travel and entertainment while she worked for the district, which included purchases to Carnival Cruise Lines, the Starlight Theatre, the Kansas City Royals and Silver Dollar City. She also allegedly used $2,600 of district funds to pay utility bills for herself and her two companies, as well as personal hotel costs.
“This was a brazen betrayal by an official entrusted with public funds, who then tried to cover her tracks by falsifying documents,” Galloway said in the release. “Restoring public trust and confidence in the district may be a challenge going forward, but it is vitally important that it happen.”
Langner, who was appointed in 2011 to handle bookkeeping, was fired in October 2018.
Galloway said a whistleblower contacted her office last fall about potentially fraudulent activity in the district, prompting the audit.
The Plattsburg Special Road District received a rating of "poor."
