Ex-CdA City Hall Worker Pleads Guilty

Item: Coeur d’Alene City Hall suspects pleads guilty to embezzlement /Tom Hasslinger, Coeur d’Alene Press

More Info: The former city of Coeur d’Alene finance employee suspected of embezzling city funds pleaded guilty Friday to six counts of wire fraud totaling approximately $365,000, according to federal court records. Sheryl Lynn Carroll, 52, entered the plea in U.S. District Court that admitted she “abused a position of public trust” while she handled money for the city, according to the Rule 11 plea agreement. “She falsely and fraudulently represented that she was sending money to legitimate Vendors when she was actually causing the payments to be directly deposited by Wire transfers into her bank account,” a copy of the charges signed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Traci Whelan states. Carroll faces up to 20 years in prison and $250,000 in fines for each count, the plea agreement states.

Bill McCrory/OpenCDA.com: “It was City Administrator Wendy Gabriel and Human Resources Director Pam MacDonald’s responsibility to ensure that suitably thorough background investigations were done on all applicants being considered for positions of public trust.   It was their responsibility, not the FBI’s,  to define the parameters of the background investigations for employment with the City of Coeur d’Alene. More here.

Question: Does someone at City Hall bear responsibility for not catching Carroll’s crime?