Former Alexander employee pleads guilty to “Theft of Property”

Melissa Anthony
Booking Photo

Former City of Alexander bookkeeper Melissa Ann Anthony (AKA Melissa Ratliff) has plead guilty to the charge of Theft of Property exceeding $25,000. Under Arkansas law, a Class B felony is punishable by 5 to 20 years in prison and fines of up to $15,000.

According to court documents the “Negotiated” plea deal was submitted to Judge Karen Whatley - 16^th Division, 6^th Circuit Court on November 6, 2025. The case is still listed as “Open” with the last entry date of November 7. The plea deal includes:

• Seven years probation;
• $1,000.00 fines and court costs;
• Restitution in the amount of $39,817.86 payable at (a) rate of $475 per month beginning December 9. 2025;
• 90 days jail credit to fines and court costs; and
• Probation fees waived until restitution paid in full.

At the November 17, 2025 council meeting, Mayor Crystal Herrmann provided council members an overview of the results and plea deal. She also explained the next steps in being compensated for the remaining funds not covered by the amount of the restitution.

“So we do have a guilty plea,” Herrmann said. “So I will be moving forward and working with (Arkansas Municipal League) risk management as far as compensation on some of the stolen funds.”

Time Line and Circumstances

The theft was only discovered after Anthony was fired by then-Mayor Paul Mitchell. Mitchell had scheduled a drug test for Anthony and another female employee to be taken Monday, October 10, 2022. When Anthony arrived at city hall she was told to wait in her car because she and the other employee would be taking a drug test that morning. Before the other employee could finish what she was doing, Anthony drove off and never returned. She was subsequently fired on Tuesday, October 11 for "Job Abandonment."

Anthony wore many hats at city hall. She was the bookkeeper, human resources director and office manager overseeing city hall staff and operations.

City Treasurer, JoAn Churchill, stepped-in and began going through the books to determine the condition of the city’s finances. Once Churchill realized there were problems with Anthony’s time and pay the state auditor, who was still working on the 2021 audit, was notified and asked to add this to the audit. The following statements are taken from the annual state Audit Report for 2021.

“During the period January 1, 2021 through August 25, 2022, the Bookkeeper received salary overpayments totaling $20,088 and undocumented mileage reimbursements totaling $641."

“In addition, review of payroll records for the Bookkeeper, who was responsible for preparing disbursements and maintaining payroll records, revealed the following:"

• "Wages received in 2021 ($74,913) exceeded budget ($40,040) by $34,873."

• "The Bookkeeper reported working an excessive number of hours on her timesheets."

• "1,602 overtime hours, including as much as 18 hours in a single day and as much as 181 hours during a two-week pay period."

• "945 weekend hours, including as much as 16 hours in a single weekend day and as much as 30 hours during a two-day weekend."

• "The Bookkeeper reported working hours while out of the office."

• "115 hours on eight weekdays while, according to time clock cards, the Bookkeeper was on sick leave."

• "29 hours for attending a three-day conference for which, according to conference officials, the Bookkeeper was not registered and there was no evidence she attended."

• "Hours reportedly worked while the Bookkeeper was traveling on three vacations, according to social media posts."

• "'Time In' and 'Time Out' reflected on timesheets did not always agree with stamped time clock cards."

• "Timesheets were not always signed by the Bookkeeper or approved by her supervisor."

• "As of August 20, 2022, the Bookkeeper had negative sick (-3) and vacation (-26) leave balances. In addition, 51 sick leave hours and 160 vacation leave hours used during the review period were not deducted from her leave balances."

How was this accomplished? It was later discovered Anthony had used Mitchell’s signature stamp without approval.

Anthony was on-the-run five months longer than the time it took to conduct the legal proceedings. About one year and nine months after Anthony was fired, she was arrested by the Pulaski County Sheriff's Office on a felony warrant Thursday, July 25, 2024. She plead not guilty the next day in Pulaski County District Court. The date of the theft was listed as October 7, 2022, four days before she was officially fired by Mayor Mitchell.

I am not a liar

After the November 17 council meeting adjourned, Mayor Herrmann approached this reporter with the giddy grin of a school girl. She asked if I was going to write an article about her not, “Being a liar.” She claimed during the 2022 election I called her a liar about Anthony embezzling city funds. A review of articles posted at the time only proved Mayor Herrmann has a case of Disjointed History Recall.

The discovery of Anthony’s embezzlement scheme couldn’t have come at a worse time. City elections were held one month after the discovery. With four candidates on the ballot, and no legal winner, a runoff election was held in December.

Prior to the runoff election between Herrmann and Mayor Mitchell, an Op-Ed was posted in The Alexandrian. The commentary was a fact-check of comments she had written on the social media site Nextdoor.

I can only assume this is her point of reference, despite not finding the word “Liar” anywhere in the Op-Ed. The section concerning the October Surprise of the firing and subsequent discovery of missing funds is posted below.

Portion of an Op-Ed entitled, “Opinions disguised as facts, with a side order of mud” originally posted November 27, 2022.

When the news leaked out about Anthony being fired, Herrmann started filing more FOIA requests. Based on the information she received Herrmann declared on Nextdoor Anthony had “Embezzled” around $90,000.00 and Mayor Mitchell “Allowed” it to happen.

Herrmann’s comment, “[I]f they would have performed a background check on her she would not have been hired to handle money,” implies Anthony had a criminal record. Where’s the proof? Does Herrmann know more than city officials about Anthony’s past?

A search for Melissa Ratliff on the website Arkansas Judiciary shows legal cases involving divorce related issues and a lawsuit with a heating and cooling company. No criminal cases were listed.

Where does she get “Liar” out of this?

The entire Op-Ed can be found here.