Office manager admits stealing £250K from fire department

A former office manager in North Carolina, USA has admitted stealing more than £250,000 from Fletcher Fire and Rescue over a seven-year period.

Blue Ridge Now reports that Brenda Glenn Livingston, who had worked for Fletcher Fire and Rescue since 2003, entered a plea agreement to charges of embezzlement. According to court documents, Livingston embezzled $333,600 (around £255,000) through unauthorised cash advances on the department’s credit card between 2008 and 2015. The total estimated loss to the fire department is $342,377 (around £262,000).

Livingston was in charge of bookkeeping, depositing funds, paying invoices and preparing and posting journal entries to the accounting system. She was the only member of staff other than the department chief and deputy chief to be issued with a company credit card, which was designated for use by staff if the chief and deputy chief were unavailable to purchase necessary items.

According to court documents, Fletcher Fire and Rescue Chief Greg Garland noticed discrepancies in a budget report in 2015 and asked Livingston for copies of recent credit card statements. Livingston lied and claimed she did not have these documents. Later that same day she withdrew $7500 (£5733) from her retirement account and paid it onto the company credit card.

Garland later obtained the card’s records through the bank and noticed unusual withdrawals and cash advancements, which the bank told him were authorised by Livingston. When Garland and his deputy Jerry Creasman met with Livingston to confront her about the missing money, she admitted to embezzling it and spending all of it on personal bills and gifts. She later admitted the same during a telephone meeting with the department’s board.

Livingston now faces up to 10 years in prison, along with a $250,000 (around £191,000) fine and up to three years’ supervised release. She is awaiting sentencing, which is due to take place next year.

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