April 06, 2009 09:12 pm
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By Derek Spellman
dspellman@joplinglobe.com
NEOSHO, Mo. — A former Leawood treasurer will stand trial on a charge of felony stealing in connection with the alleged embezzlement of more than $300,000 in village money.
Gene “Paul” Boyd, 62, was bound over after a preliminary hearing Monday morning in the Associate Division of Newton County Circuit Court.
Authorities allege that Boyd stole at least $325,210 between 2002 and 2008 in his capacity as village treasurer, according to court documents. Still unaccounted for is an additional $673,534 in village money, largely from years preceding 2002.
Boyd, a longtime Leawood treasurer, reportedly confessed to his former employer that he had been embezzling money from the village for as long as 21 years, according to court documents. He resigned from his post in October 2008.
Denny Desmond, the chairman of Leawood’s Board of Trustees, was the lone witness to testify during Boyd’s hearing Monday. Desmond has been on the board since 2000 and has served as its chairman since 2005.
Desmond, a certified public accountant, said he decided last year that it would be a “good business practice” to have a second person verifying the village’s financial information.
When he went to do that in October, Desmond said, he uncovered discrepancies between what Boyd had reported to the village trustees and what the accounts showed.
The last report Boyd presented showed the village with a community savings account, a checking account and a number of certificates of deposits totaling about $262,000, Desmond said.
“I found out there was no community savings account, there were no certificates of deposit, and there was a checking account with a minimal balance,” Desmond said.
Boyd resigned after Desmond confronted him about the discrepancy.
Desmond testified that Boyd fabricated the village financial reports and bank statements that he previously provided to the trustees.
Desmond also said a review of financial records showed that Boyd sometimes deposited checks from the village’s account with Community Bank & Trust into a separate and unauthorized account that Boyd himself established with U.S. Bank. Sometimes, Boyd wrote checks from the Community Bank & Trust account to himself and cashed them, Desmond said.
Boyd was bound over for trial by Judge Gregory Stremel after Desmond’s testimony and a brief cross-examination by Boyd’s defense attorney, Dan Whitworth.
Village officials contacted the Newton County Sheriff’s Department about the alleged discrepancies in October. The department also was contacted at about the same time by officials from Boyd’s then-employer, Empire District Electric Co. Boyd reportedly confessed to several of his Empire supervisors that he had taken money from the village for more than two decades, according to a probable-cause affidavit.
The Sheriff’s Department launched an investigation that culminated in the filing of charges against Boyd in February. A state audit requested last year is pending.
Boyd’s home at 135 Valley View Drive has a market value of about $147,100, according to the Jasper County assessor’s office. There are no records of him owning any property in Newton County.
Newton County Sheriff Ken Copeland told the Globe in a phone interview Monday that investigators, at least so far, have not ascertained what happened to the $673,000. Investigators also have not yet determined what might have happened to the $325,210 that Boyd is accused of taking.
Copeland said investigators are hoping that the planned state audit of the village’s finances will help reveal what happened to those funds. That audit is to take place later this year.
Desmond told the Globe after the hearing, though, that it might prove difficult to reconstruct what happened even with an audit. Much of the financial records available go back only seven years, he said.
Desmond said he had “no idea” what Boyd might have done with the money he is accused of embezzling.
“He (Boyd) hasn’t said anything yet,” Desmond said. “We’re not optimistic that there is going to be any significant amount of money for restitution.”
Felony charge
Gene “Paul” Boyd is charged with Class B felony stealing. The threshold for that charge is $25,000.
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