The Selma Times-Journal

A special report filed Friday unveiling the results of an investigation of improprieties at the Criminal Justice Training Center in Selma revealed a Wilcox County woman may be prosecuted for the alleged theft of more than $163,000 over a four-year period.

The Department of Examiner’s of Public Accounts released information Monday that alleges a former account clerk stole $127,536.61 from deposits of the Center’s funds. The audit also revealed the clerk “wrote and cashed checks made payable to herself, and wrote additional checks for her personal expenses, totaling $35,678.34.”

Lillian Denise Logan-Wilson was terminated Nov. 2, 2005, following a joint investigation by the Alabama Bureau of Investigations and the Center. She has been charged with the theft of $163,214.95, between Aug. 27, 2001 and Oct. 31, 2005, according to the report.

“She was employed at the Training Center and was responsible for handling some of the funds collected from class fees and such,” said Doris Teague, a spokesperson for the Alabama Department of Public Safety. “The department discovered discrepancies and they contacted the state auditor’s office and the ABI.”

The results of the findings were reported to the Attorney General’s office, Teague said. No charges have been filed, however, the audit demanded Logan-Wilson repay the funds immediately.

According to the report, Logan-Wilson “was allowed to have total control of the fees collections, deposits, disbursements, and reconciliation of two of the three credit union accounts. There was no oversight of the financial operations of the Center from the DPS office in Montgomery.”

It was determined Logan-Wilson “apparently took large amounts of cash out of deposits made into credit union accounts. The discovery was made while the account clerk was out of the office for a week.” When she returned she was interviewed and then terminated, according to the report.

Located at Craig Field, the training center hosts police, state trooper and other public safety academy training seminars and courses. The report recommended the DPS “close all accounts maintained in credit unions and deposit all funds in the State Treasury unless legal authorization in obtained to have a bank account in an approved qualified public depository.”