ST. LOUIS (AP) - A former city clerk in a small northeast Missouri town has been indicted on wire fraud and theft from federal programs, the U.S. attorney’s office said Wednesday.
Tracey Ray, 48, who was city clerk in Center in Ralls County, was indicted by a grand jury on Nov. 5. She was arrested Tuesday and made her initial court appearance Wednesday.
Between January 2015 and July 2019, Ray fraudulently obtained $317,325, which she used for personal bills, travel, lodging and to give money to family members, according to the indictment.
Ray obtained the money by issuing Center bank funds for herself, issuing Center checks to pay personal expenses, such as insurance premiums and mortgage payments, or by issuing Center payroll checks to herself, prosecutors said.
She also is accused of issuing one or more Center checks to her family and not depositing cash receipts she received from residents to pay various city charges.
In order to conceal her scheme, Ray falsified the cash balances of Center bank accounts on financial reports she prepared for monthly Board of Aldermen meetings, prosecutors said.
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