FAYETTEVILLE -- The former treasurer of the Northwest Arkansas Education Service Cooperative in Farmington pleaded guilty March 21 to stealing thousands of dollars from the cooperative.
Dianne Gloria Parrish, 61, of Springdale, pleaded guilty in Washington County Circuit Court to theft of property and second-degree forgery, both felonies.
Parrish was placed on six years probation and ordered to pay $32,000 in restitution, of which $20,000 was paid last week, $5,000 is coming from a bond forfeiture, and the balance will be made by payments.
The cooperative became suspicious of Parrish after a September audit revealed "a large amount of discrepancies concerning checks made out by the treasurer," according to a probable cause affidavit. Cooperative officials forwarded the results of the audit to the Farmington Police Department in December.
The audit identified 75 unauthorized checks totaling roughly $30,325 had been deposited into Parrish's personal account between Feb. 2, 2010, and May 12, 2015.
Parrish also wrote nine checks to her husband, Tony Parrish, totaling $5,540, and paid her 2013 personal property taxes with a fraudulent check from the cooperative, according to the affidavit. Other fraudulent checks "going back years further" couldn't be documented due to the unavailability of records, which the cooperative only keeps for five years, according to the affidavit.
Parrish was also accused of using the cooperative's account to purchase lumber, paint, and kitchen and bathroom merchandise from Home Depot.
Parrish retired at the end of September after being suspended for about three weeks, according to Charles Cudney, director of the cooperative. Parrish worked at the cooperative about 20 years.
General News on 03/22/2017