County theft case headed to grand jury

Published 10:37 am Thursday, July 26, 2018

A former county employee charged with taking more than $11,000 in emergency planning funds sent her case to the grand jury.

Jennifer Paige Adkins, 41, of 222 Moundale Ave., was arrested and subsequently fired in May after the allegations came to light.

Adkins was scheduled for a preliminary hearing Wednesday in Clark District Court, but she and her attorney decided to waive the hearing and send it to the grand jury. Adkins remains free on bond.

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She was arrested for one count of theft by unlawful taking over $10,000 and 17 counts of second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument.

Adkins worked in the Clark County Emergency Management office and served as the treasurer for the Local Emergency Planning Committee.

Clark County Judge-Executive Henry Branham, who receives bank statements for EPC account, said he started noticing discrepancies in April. Following an investigation by the Clark County Sheriff’s Office in May, detectives found 17 checks with forged signatures of Clark County Emergency Management Director Gary Epperson or Deputy Director Charles Steele. Another six checks did not have a required second signature.

In each instance, the checks were made payable to Adkins and the funds were deposited in her personal account, according to Clark County Sheriff Berl Perdue Jr. Adkins was the only one with access to that account.

Days after her arrest, the Clark County Fiscal Court voted to terminate her employment. She had been a county employee since 2001.

If convicted as charged, Adkins could be sentenced to five to 10 years for theft and one to five years for each of the forgery counts.

About Fred Petke

Fred Petke is a reporter for The Winchester Sun, the Jessamine Journal and the State Journal. His beats include cops, courts, fire, public records, city and county government and other news. To contact Fred, email fred.petke@bluegrassnewsmedia.com or call 859-759-0051.

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