Canton Court Clerk and Collector fired, arrested for forgery and financial exploitation

CANTON, Mo. (WGEM) -- Lewis County Sheriff David Parrish reported Wednesday the arrest of the now fired Canton City Collector and Municipal Court Clerk.

Parrish said La Trisha Crist, 38, was charged with one count of forgery, a class D felony, two counts of financial exploitation of an elder/disabled person, a class D felony, and two counts of financial exploitation of an elder/disabled person, a class E felony.

Sheriff Parrish stated Crist is alleged to have created a false document related to her role as the clerk in charge of water and sewer bills in June, 2020.

Parrish added at that time, she allegedly removed herself as the primary account holder and placed the water bill under the name of a family member who had been renting a property Crist owned at 116 South Fifth Street, Canton, Missouri. There was approximately $300.00 owed to the city of Canton for non-payment.

Parrish reported that Crist then began the process to have the family member sent to a collections agency. 

All of these incidents occurred without the authorization of proper city of Canton personnel, Parrish added.

In addition Sheriff Parrish stated in June the Sheriff's Office received a report that Crist was stealing money from an elderly and disabled family member.

During this investigation, the Sheriff's Office learned Crist had been over-seeing the financial matters of the family member since 2017.

After extensive review of various financial records, Parrish reports that Crist is alleged to have used the family member's debit card, stimulus check and other credit cards for her own personal gain in excess of $6000.

Lewis County Assistant Prosecutor, Chelsea Fellinger, filed formal charges and sought a warrant from the court.  A warrant on all counts was received on December 8.

Crist's bond was set at $5000 with corporate surety allowed by Associate Judge Thomas P. Redington.

The Sheriff's Office was assisted by the Canton Police Department.

Canton Mayor Jarrod Phillips said the city terminated Crist on December 4.

 

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Canton Court Clerk and Collector fired, arrested for forgery and financial exploitation

Court Clerk in California Caught fixing Cases

It appears California is on the cutting edge of judicial corruption howbeit in the opposite direction.  There were several times in my life that I wish I could have paid someone at the courthouse to make a charge/ticket go away.  In  Orange County, California, that dream was a reality from 2010 to 2015.

Had it not been or those pesky F.B.I agents that were meddling their way into Orange County’s litigation processes, it probably would be going on right now.


Citizens have been getting notices to appear in Orange County Superior Court despite the record which reflects that cases were plead out or dismissed.  Apparently, this scam has been tied to a Court Clerk that, by happenstance, recently resigned from the Superior Court Clerk’s Office.  It’s difficult to believe a Clerk went for 5yrs fixing cases and taking bribes and without being caught.  In fact, the FBI alleges the Clerk assigned counsel to represent these defendants who paid upwards of 10k to make these cases go away.   When reaching out to counsel of record for these purported defendants, attorneys allege they have no idea who these people are that they never represented them.   What is not clear is how and who the citizen paid these large sums of money to.  According to the LA Times defendants were paying large sums of money to “middlemen” who would then remit the cash money to someone known as the “fixer” who would quietly make the case[s] go away.

At some point, the Feds caught wind of this hustle which, according to the LA  Times, was targeted towards Latino men and began unravelling this tangled web woven in Orange County.  An educated hunch would lead a reasonable person to believe cuplability goes much higher up the food chain than the Clerk of the Court.  Don’t be suprised if you never hear anything about this case again because as soon as the Judges get caught in this sting — the Feds will surely blackmail them and it will all be swept under the rug.

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Court Clerk in California Caught fixing Cases

Alabama Judge's Former Assistant Indicted on Theft Charges

A former judicial assistant for Calhoun County district judges is charged with stealing from the courthouse, the state attorney general’s office announced.

A Calhoun County grand jury in August indicted Melody Warren, 52, of Oxford on two counts of first-degree theft of property and one count of using her position as a public employee for personal gain, according to a press release from the attorney general’s office.

The release states that Warren “exerted unauthorized control over money or checks” worth more than $2,500.

Warren last worked for former Calhoun County District Judge Mannon Bankson, but resigned after suspicions of the thefts surfaced, said Calhoun County Circuit Judge Brian Howell.

It was not clear Wednesday when Warren  is to appear in court, but if convicted she could be sentenced to as much as 20 years in prison and fines of up to $30,000 for each count, according to the release.

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Judge's Former Assistant Indicted on Theft Charges

Georgia: Former Clerk, Judge's Secretary Arrested, Accused of Doctoring Court Records

Authorities on Friday arrested former Floyd County deputy court clerk Connie Nadine May and judge’s secretary Carol Corbin in connection with an investigation into the possible doctoring of court records.

May, 51, is accused of illegally altering the records of two defendants, backdating the sentence dispositions of two men by three days. Corbin, 55, then lied about the documents. Both lied days later to a Rome police investigator about the records, their indictment states.
May allegedly failed to immediately process court records, which resulted in the delayed release of two inmates, Floyd County Superior Court Clerk Barbara Penson said.

Indicted and arrested Friday, both women were released on their own recognizance.

May is charged with two counts of public record fraud and one count each of making false statements and violating her oath as a public officer.

Corbin, a secretary for Chief Judge Walter Matthews, is charged with four counts of making false statements.

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Former Clerk, Judge's Secretary Arrested, Accused of Doctoring Court Records