Spencer indicted on charges

A six month long investigation by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations (TBI) has resulted in the indictment of a former Hardeman County Solid Waste and Landfill employee for stealing customer payments for landfill fees.
TBI agents began investigating Le’Curnita Katreese Spencer, 28, of Whiteville, on October 22, 2014 for missing funds. Spencer was suspended by the county immediately upon allegations surfacing.
According to a TBI press release, “During the course of the investigation, agents developed information that Spencer, while working as an employee of Hardeman County Solid Waste, collected cash payments totaling more than $3,000 from customers, did not properly deposit the money, and kept the money for herself.”
Spencer admitted the allegations to investigators during the course of the investigation, according to a report released by the Tennessee State Comptroller’s Office on February 4.
On Monday, May 4, the Hardeman County Grand Jury returned indictments for Spencer on the charges of two counts of Official Misconduct and one count of Theft over $1,000.
Spencer, daughter-in-law of former Hardeman County Mayor Willie Spencer, was hired by former mayor Spencer in violation of the county’s nepotism policy. The investigation from the Tennessee State Comptroller’s Office reports Spencer accepted cash payments from customers and provided hand written receipts for the payment, but never entered the payment into the system.
The investigation by the Comptroller’s Office, spanning from a time period of July 1, 2013 to September 9, 2014, targeted a cash shortage of at least $3,062.72 between that time period. In addition, questionable adjustments made to customer accounts and write-offs totaling $9,071.44 were noted during the period examined.
The $3,062.72 existed, according to the Comptroller’s report, due to Spencer failing to make deposits of collections. According to the Comptroller’s report, the employee (now identified as Spencer) admitted to investigators on September 29, 2014, “solid waste records show that I may have taken county money for personal usage.”
Hardeman County Mayor Jimmy Sain said the theft of customer payments was disappointing but he has implemented steps to prevent against theft in the future.
“I am very disappointing that Hardeman County
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