The Administrative Coordinator for Augusta’s Fleet Management Department has been arrested after being accused of stealing funds from the department.
On Tuesday, June 16th a Richmond County Sheriff’s Office investigator met with an Augusta Finance Department employee in reference to theft of money.
The Finance Department employee notified the investigator that for the past couple of months, her department, along with Fleet Management, have been looking into some missing money that was from sales of surplus items on GovDeals.com.
The Finance Department employee told the investigator that, after looking at the sales spreadsheet from Fleet Management, she found that in 2015 a total of $16,750.29 in cash sales was missing. The employee also told the investigator that she went back to the 2014 sales spreadsheet and found an additional $49,301.08 in cash missing.
The Finance Department employee told the investigator there are two people in the office of Fleet Management who handle the day-to-day business and the sales that are done through GovDeals.com, and they are Fleet Management director Ronald Crowden and 48-year-old Patricia Lee Ystenes, of Kershaw Drive in North Augusta, South Carolina.
Ystenes has been charged with Theft by Taking, which is a felony.
WJBF-TV’s George Eskola is digging deeper into this developing story and they will provide the latest information as it becomes available.
Read the full article from WJBF-TV
