CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Police have accused an accountant of draining more than $200,000 from the city of Dunbar at least a year.
Reneda Welch was arrested and charged this afternoon with embezzlement. She was arraigned in Kanawha Magistrate Court.
The investigation of the city’s books started in 2016 and included a deep dive — called a forensic audit — by the state Auditor’s Office.
“Any time a community loses that kind of money it has a negative impact, there’s no question about that. It’s my perception that this happened over a several year period of time,” said Dunbar Mayor Bill Cunningham, who has only been mayor since last August.
“If we lost that much in one year it would be devastating to our budget.”
Welch’s relationship with the city dates back almost a decade to the period after Mayor Roger Wolfe was impeached, Cunningham said. The next mayor, Jack Yeager, hired an accounting firm to audit the city books. Welch was an employee of the accounting firm.
After a couple of years, the city hired Welch as an in-house accountant to oversee the records and books.
An investigation led by Detective J.A. Payne of the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office started in 2016. Payne wrote in a criminal complaint that city officials suspected Welch was keeping deposits.
Payne interviewed Welch in September, 2016.
“During the subsequent interview with Welch, she confessed to taking several thousand dollars from deposits at the City of Dunbar,” Payne wrote.
“She initially stated that amount was up to $2,000 but later stated it could be in excess of $10,000. She stated that the thefts occurred over a course approximately one year.”
When the investigation started, Welch resigned from the accounting job, Cunningham said.
Meanwhile, the state Auditor’s Office started the forensic audit.
“They go through everything with their own experts who work for them to figure out how a particular amount of money can’t be accounted for,” said Maryclaire Akers, an assistant Kanawha County prosecutor. “Where they went, if they weren’t sent to the right places, whether or not someone was able to create different accounts.”
The forensic audit concluded $203,000 was missing.
“It’s been a heavy cloud hanging over everybody that works in the city, just kind of dreading the moment it was going to finally come to light,” Cunningham said.
“But I think there’s a lot of relief for people who work with the city that it’s come to light also. We’re ready to move on and deal with it.”
He had some hope the city could get its money back.
“That’s up to the court system,” Cunningham said. “The criminal complaint has been filed and like any other legal matter it will take its due course.”