A former Richmond Sanitary District worker accused of stealing more than $800,000 from sanitary district deposits and her attorney argue that she was not a public servant performing an official function in her role depositing cash collected through sanitary district transactions.
Jennifer Wilson, 48, and her attorney Lisa Rosenberger argued Feb. 12 before Superior Court 1 Judge Ronald Moore why they think 11 of 16 felony charges against Wilson should be dismissed. Wilson is charged with eight theft and eight official misconduct counts, with both groups containing a count for each year from 2016 through 2023.
Moore said he’d take about a week to rule. Wilson’s trial is scheduled June 9.
Wilson, a former accounts payable clerk, is accused of shorting sanitary district cash deposits by $825,819.74 during a 6 1/2-year span, with $173,750 in cash deposits made to Wilson’s private account on 243 of the 994 days sanitary district deposits were short when she worked. Wilson’s job was to receive cash from sanitary district transactions, finalize daily cash deposits, fill out daily recap reports about money received, fill out deposit slips and make the deposits. The recap reports and deposit slips were then provided to the city controller’s office.
Rosenberger argued that the five-year statute of limitations should cause dismissal of the charges related to 2016, 2017 and 2018, and that all the official misconduct charges should be dismissed because Wilson was not a public servant performing an official function.
Chief Deputy Prosecutor Ashley Green argued that the statute of limitations clock should not have begun until May 16, 2023, when Richmond Police Department received an anonymous tip about Wilson’s alleged thefts. Green said evidence in the affidavit of probable cause that Wilson recorded lower amounts on the daily recaps shows she concealed her ongoing actions and prevented earlier discovery.
Rosenberger said that the Indiana State Board of Accounts audit that forms the basis of the charges against Wilson compared recap reports and deposits against figures on computers to which Wilson had no access. Therefore, there’s no proof that Wilson concealed anything, Rosenberger said.
She also wondered if any audits or reconciliations between the computer and bank figures were performed during the 6 1/2 years that did not find bank shortages.
Green requested that if Moore were to rule that the affidavit does not show concealment, she could amend the affidavit with a specific allegation of concealment.
Green also said it’s obvious that Wilson was a public servant until being fired June 30, 2023, calling her a “textbook definition” of a public servant because she was employed and paid by the city of Richmond for the sanitary district, and she was trusted and authorized to handle public funds as part of her job duties.
Rosenberger said Wilson simply was an employee — not elected or appointed — who did not take in the money. Rosenberger did say that there’s no relevant case law that defines what’s considered an official function.
Seven charges are Level 5 felonies with an advisory sentence of three years and a sentencing range of one to six years. The other nine charges are Level 6 felonies with a one-year advisory sentence and range of six to 30 months.
A version of this article appeared in the February 19 2025 print edition of the Western Wayne News.