Official accused of using county credit card

HOT SPRINGS -- The former administrative assistant for the Garland County judge was arrested Tuesday morning on six felony counts alleging fraudulent use of a county credit card, including personal purchases for items that included Arkansas Razorbacks tickets and a tuxedo for her dog.

Kristi Lyn Goss, 43, of Hot Springs turned herself in shortly after 9 a.m. after a months-long investigation that began when the county discovered irregularities in May.

Four counts involve amounts more than $25,000 and the two other counts involve amounts of more than $5,000.

Goss was released later Tuesday from the Garland County jail 0n $50,000 bond.

Goss was terminated June 3. She had reportedly left her position at the end of May after the allegations came to light.

Garland County Prosecutor Terri Harris originally filed seven counts against Goss, but the affidavit was amended Monday to six.

According to the affidavit filed by Arkansas State Police Special Agent David Moss, legislative auditor Jimmy Locke discovered 3,722 charges on the credit card between December 2011 and May 2016 and confirmed $70,523 in personal purchases made by Goss.

Locke also identified $92,074 in purchases suspected to be personal in nature, based on the names of the businesses where the purchases were made, the affidavit said.

Locke noted he was still waiting on business records for additional purchases totaling $191,887, the majority of which were unauthorized but weren't confirmed as personal. Harris and Locke stated Goss is suspected of taking and redirecting money allocated for other Garland County departments and using the money to pay the credit card bills.

Some of the confirmed personal purchases listed in the affidavit included payments for Goss' electric bills of more than $4,400; payments for cell phone bills of more than $4,900; payments for tickets to Arkansas Razorbacks games totaling $975; car payments totaling $1,200; payments for her real estate taxes totaling $1,895; hotel gift cards totaling more than $1,850; a diamond bracelet for $128 and sequin throw pillows for $87.

Other items included purchases online for clothes and a tuxedo for Goss' dog that coincided with when her children attended prom, county human resources director Valerie Dodge told Moss.

The affidavit notes the first confirmed personal purchase made by Goss was Oct. 29, 2012, for an electric bill payment and the last was May 25, for a purchase from Amazon.

County Judge Ricky Davis told investigators Goss was responsible for ordering and purchasing IT equipment for the county as well as paying various bills. She would purchase items using the county credit card, but the actual card was kept by Mary Culpepper, Davis' chief of staff who also served as Goss' immediate supervisor.

Davis said when he was informed by Comptroller Susan Ashmore about some county bills not being paid on time and the outstanding balance on the credit card, he and Culpepper spoke to Goss.

Further investigation revealed the personal and unauthorized purchases made by Goss, and Davis said he immediately contacted Harris and the Legislative Audit.

NW News on 10/27/2016

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