Former Alexander bookkeeper arrested and charged with "Theft of Property"

Former City of Alexander bookkeeper Melissa Ann Anthony (AKA Melissa Ratliff) was arrested by the Pulaski County Sheriff's Office on a felony warrant Thursday, July 25, 2024. Anthony has been charged with "Theft of Property" greater than $25,000, a Class B Felony.

Melissa Anthony
Booking Photo

Anthony plead not guilty during a video arraignment hearing held Friday, July 26 in Pulaski County District Court. The date of the alleged theft is listed as October 7, 2022.

The alleged theft was only discovered after she 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 inside city hall Anthony drove off and never returned. She was subsequently fired on Tuesday, October 11 for "Job Abandonment."

City Treasurer, JoAn Churchill, stepped-in and began going through the books to determine the condition of the city’s finances. Also, payday was due and she needed to be sure all of the accounts could make payroll.

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.

Under the category of Mayor the report states, “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."

A Surety Bond was set at $10,000.00. A court date has not been set.

[Information for this article provided by the Pulaski County Sheriff's Office website and the Arkansas Courts website.]