A Coal Hill woman is scheduled to go on trial in January on five counts of theft after being accused of stealing nearly $180,000 over four years from the Westside School District in Johnson County.
Brandi Freeman, 33, waived arraignment and entered an innocent plea to the charges last week in Johnson County Circuit Court through her attorney, Jack "Jay" T. Patterson II of Clarksville. Circuit Judge William Pearson scheduled her jury trial for Jan. 25 and 26.
An affidavit for an arrest warrant against Freeman signed by Arkansas State Police investigator Stewart Condley said Freeman took the school district's money for her own use from May 2013 to March 2017.
The affidavit said Freeman was treasurer for the school district from January 2008 until she resigned in March. She was the custodian of the district's cash and responsible for depositing that and other revenue into the district's bank accounts.
Freeman had authority to issue checks for district expenses and had control of district credit cards issued by Arvest Bank and Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the affidavit said.
From May 1, 2013, through March 21, 2017, Freeman received cash and checks to deposit into the district's banks accounts, the affidavit said. It said she altered bank deposit forms to reflect the amount of the checks but kept the cash, totaling $110,422.
Condley reported in the affidavit that Freeman wrote six checks totaling $6,132 on the district accounts without authorization, naming herself as the payee and depositing the money into her personal bank account.
In 2016, Freeman issued a check from the district for $3,000 to a fictitious vendor, Freeman Farms, that she deposited into her personal account.
Freeman used the school district's Arvest Bank and Wal-Mart credit cards to make $27,626 in purchases for herself, according to the affidavit.
The affidavit said Freeman also made $32,211 in purchases from Amazon, Kohl's, Overstock, Sam's Club, Sears, Staples and Wal-Mart and wrote 15 checks on the district's bank accounts to pay for them.
State Desk on 09/08/2017