Former county employee facing embezzlement charges

By NATE HUBBARD/Staff

A former employee of Wythe County’s Water and Wastewater Department was indicted late Wednesday afternoon on felony embezzlement charges.
Rhonda Cox of 965 Four Seasons Road in Rural Retreat was charged with a felony because the amount she is accused of stealing is greater than $200. She was an employee with the water department from the mid-1990s until her resignation in April.
According to a press release from the Virginia State Police, who investigated the case, Cox is accused of embezzling more than $50,000 from the county’s water department.
“They did an audit and the audit revealed the missing money,” said Sgt. Michael Conroy, a state police spokesman.
The grand jury indictment accused Cox of taking county funds from Jan. 3, 2006, to April 30, 2007.
County Administrator Cellell Dalton said the county wished to remain vague on the details of the case to allow the judicial process to function.
However, in a meeting Wednesday afternoon, Dalton was able to give some insight into what the county believes happened.
Dalton said the money was embezzled through cash payments for county water bills. He said the cash was recorded as having been deposited, but the money was never put into the account.
The press release from the state police also pointed to the cash payments as the source of the missing money.
“Mrs. Cox was allegedly not depositing cash from transactions, but was showing the customer bill as paid in full,” the release stated.
Both Dalton and Conroy stressed that no individual accounts were tainted.
“We did not find any evidence that any accounts had been negatively affected,” Conroy said.
The Wythe County Board of Supervisors issued its own press release Wednesday morning in anticipation of the indictment, apologizing to the public.
“We want to assure everyone that all accounts have been billed correctly, all payments have been properly posted to the proper accounts,” the release stated.
It is unclear when the county first suspected funds were missing. Dalton said Cox resigned in April just two days after the county alerted its employees that it had instituted a stricter accounting system where deposited funds would be checked daily.
The state police formally began its investigation in early May after being contacted by the water department and commonwealth’s attorney.
Conroy said he was unable to give details of the investigation.
“She (Cox) is cooperating with authorities,” he said.
He added in the phone interview Thursday morning that Cox had not yet been picked up by police.
“She has arranged a time to turn herself in,” Conroy said.
He was unable to provide a specific date, elaborating only that it would be “in the next few days.”
Cox declined comment on the charges when reached by telephone Thursday afternoon. She also refused to state when she planned to turn herself into authorities, saying the arrangement was a private matter between her and the police.
The charges against Cox are deemed grand larceny, according to the Virginia Code. If found guilty, Cox could face up to 20 years in prison.
The supervisors’ press release stated that all missing funds are covered under the county’s insurance policy.
However, Dalton said the county would seek full restitution if Cox if found guilty.
Nate Hubbard can be reached at 228-6611 or .