Former Clerk Accused In Audit Of Pocketing Almost $300,000

A former accounting clerk for the Highline Water District is accused in a state audit of pocketing nearly $300,000 in utility bill payments by falsifying records.

In a report issued Friday, state Auditor Brian Sonntag said lax internal controls were partly to blame for the loss.

The money disappeared from January 1995 to last March. The loss was discovered after an audit of district records.

Water district officials fired the accounting clerk in March after confronting her about the missing $298,125. The 61-year-old Renton woman had worked for the district, which serves about 50,000 people in the Des Moines-Midway-SeaTac area, for 15 years.

“It was a shocker to everybody,” said the water district’s general manager, Peggy Bosley.

The clerk was able to avoid detection because she also handled calls from customers who complained about not receiving credit on their accounts, auditors said.

The case has been referred to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office for possible criminal charges.