A former Richmond Sanitary District accounts payable clerk still faces 16 felony charges after a judge denied her motion to dismiss 11 of them.
Jennifer Wilson, 48, is accused of shorting sanitary district cash deposits by $825,819.74 during a 6 1/2-year span. A State Board of Accounts audit found $173,750 cash was deposited into Wilson’s personal account on 243 of the 994 days Wilson worked and sanitary district deposits were short.
She is charged with eight Level 5 and Level 6 felony counts of theft and eight Level 6 felony official misconduct counts. Each theft count and each misconduct count covers one year between 2016 and 2023.
Wilson claimed that charges involving 2016, 2017 and 2018 should be dismissed because of the five-year statute of limitations and that all eight official misconduct charges should be dismissed because Wilson should not be considered a public servant.
Chief Deputy Prosecutor Ashley Green and Lisa Rosenberger, Wilson’s defense attorney, argued the motion Feb. 12 before Superior Court 1 Judge Ronald Moore. On Feb. 24, Moore issued his order denying both parts of Wilson’s motion.
Wilson’s job involved collecting cash from sanitary district transactions, finalizing daily cash deposits, filling out daily recap reports of money received, drafting deposit slips and making deposits. The recap reports and deposit slips were provided to the city controller’s office.
An anonymous tip May 16, 2023, initiated investigations of Wilson, resulting in her being fired June 20, 2023, and charges being filed Nov. 20, 2024. The prosecution argued that the statute of limitations clock should begin when the tip was received because Wilson took steps to conceal her actions.
Although the specific charging information the prosecution filed does not accuse Wilson of concealment, Moore ruled that the affidavit of probable cause filed in conjunction with the charges does detail “Wilson’s alleged manipulation of financial records over multiple years.” At one point it alleges Wilson “altered financial ledgers, created false deposit records, and manipulated bookkeeping systems in a manner that misrepresented the true financial state of the Richmond Sanitary District,” Moore’s order said.
Along with denying dismissal of the charges from 2016, 2017 and 2018, Moore ordered the prosecution to file amended charges “explicitly including the allegation of concealment.”
Moore also ruled that Wilson served as a public servant; therefore, he denied dismissal of the official misconduct charges. His order indicates that Indiana courts have consistently defined public servants by their job duties, not their job titles.
The judge cited case law where workers were classified as public servants because of their roles. “Wilson’s direct oversight of public funds satisfies this standard,” Moore wrote.
Wilson’s trial is scheduled for June 9.
A version of this article appeared in the March 5 2025 print edition of the Western Wayne News.