Stillwater Schools employee charged with embezzling $216k, uncovered by State Auditor's investigative audit

Under the current and previous office-holders (Cindy Byrd and Gary Jones, respectively), the State Auditor's office has probably been the state government agency/department that taxpayer's have gotten the most bang for the buck from. Kudos for a job well done protecting Oklahoma taxpayers:

Byrd's Audit of Stillwater Schools Leads to Embezzlement Charge

"This employee was literally taking food out of the mouths of children."

OKLAHOMA CITY (May 4th) - Cindy Byrd’s investigative audit of Stillwater Public Schools has led to felony embezzlement charges filed against former district employee Stacy Hampton. Hampton is accused of stealing more than $200,000 from the school nutrition program over the course of seven years.

“Based on our findings, this employee was literally taking food out of the mouths of children,” Byrd said. “Hampton was an administrative assistant for the school nutrition program and took money specifically earmarked to feed school kids. She was in charge of collecting money from school cafeterias and making the deposits. Based on work we performed, it appears Hampton embezzled a total of $216,196.67 from fiscal year 2013 through fiscal year 2019.”

Payne County District Attorney Laura Austin Thomas requested the audit after being alerted by Jericah Dawson, the Stillwater Public Schools CFO. Dawson was conducting an internal investigation and discovered the discrepancy.

The State Auditor & Inspectors Office delivered the audit findings to the Payne County DA’s office in April 2022. Austin Thomas filed felony embezzlement charges against Hampton last Friday.

“This extensive and thorough investigation would not have been possible without the interagency cooperation of the Stillwater Public Schools, the State Auditor's Office, and the Stillwater Police Department, working in concert to present a prosecutable criminal case,” said Laura Austin Thomas. “I am grateful the school brought this criminal activity to light and pursued further investigation.”

The full audit report is available here and posted on the Oklahoma State Auditor & Inspector’s website at www.sai.ok.gov.