Shoral Bounds was indicted for embezzlement by a Coahoma County grand jury and presented with a $182,771.97 demand letter upon her arrest.
On Tuesday, the Office of the State Auditor announced special agents from their office have arrested Shoral Bounds, former lead cashier for the Clarksdale Public Utilities. Bounds was indicted for embezzlement by a Coahoma County grand jury and presented with a $182,771.97 demand letter upon her arrest.
The demand letter includes interest and investigative expenses.
Shoral Bounds is accused of embezzling customer utility payments and manipulating the computer systems to show that her daily collections were less than she collected. If convicted, Bounds faces 20 years in prison and thousands of dollars in fines.
A $50,000 surety bond covers Bounds’s employment at the Clarksdale Public Utilities. Surety bonds are similar to insurance designed to protect taxpayers from corruption. Bounds will remain liable for the total amount of the demand in addition to criminal proceedings.
State Auditor Shad White said that this is, yet again, a person working at a utilities office who took advantage of the very people she should have been serving.
“If you know of similar fraud happening anywhere in Mississippi, please contact my office,” White said. “We are dedicated to putting a stop to this abuse of the taxpayers’ trust.”
“All persons arrested by the Mississippi Office of the State Auditor are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. The Office of the Attorney General will prosecute the case,” the Office of the State Auditor said.
