Utility clerk took payments from customers, then manipulated the books to steal thousands, auditor says
Published 9:53 pm Tuesday, June 7, 2022
The former lead cashier for Clarksdale Public Utilities has been arrested on embezzlement charges, Mississippi State Auditor Shad White announced Tuesday.
Shoral Bounds was indicted by a Coahoma County grand jury, according to a press release from the auditor’s office. Bounds is accused of embezzling customer utility payments and manipulating the computer systems to show that her daily collections were less than she collected
White’s office said Bounds was given a demand letter to pay $182,771.97, an amount that includes interest and investigative expenses.
It is not immediately clear if Bounds has an attorney to represent her and speak to the media on her behalf.
The public utility serves 6,800 residential and business customers in the Mississippi Delta.
“This is, yet again, a person working at a utilities office who took advantage of the very people she should have been serving,” White said in a statement.