Secretary charged in UGA theft
onlineathens.com | 3/22/08 | Joe Johnson
A secretary for the Hall County Cooperative Extension office was booked into jail Friday in charges she stole more than $50,000, University of Georgia police said.
Doris Faye Beck, 46, of Cleveland, allegedly stole the money over a two-year-period from the extension office in Gainesville, UGA police said. The Cooperative Extension Service is a division of the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, so UGA police were in charge of investigating the theft.
A supervisor at the Hall County office noticed bookkeeping "discrepancies" and ordered an audit that concluded Beck stole $52,326.80, according to police.
UGA investigators took out warrants Thursday, police said, and Beck was booked into the Hall County Jail on Friday on seven counts of first-degree forgery, eight counts of theft by taking and 18 counts of evidence tampering.
UGA police Lt. Lisa Boone said Beck used her position to write checks out to herself. The tampering charges stemmed from Beck's attempts to cover up the alleged thefts, according to Boone.
Extension service officials fired the 10-year employee, according to Boone. Beck was jailed without bail.