Jason Futch
reporter2.riverbendnews@gmail.com
On Friday, Jan. 17, a former employee at RIVEROAK Technical College was arrested on charges of larceny and forgery after allegedly cashing checks into her personal bank account. According to an anonymous source from the Suwannee County Sheriff’s Office (SCSO), 36-year-old Live Oak resident Katlin Westrich was arrested and charged after an audit of the Suwannee County School District (SCSD) identified discrepancies with what appeared to be payments made to contractual employees from RIVEROAK. Because the SCSD handles the payments to contractual employees and not the school itself, it threw red flags, resulting in a more in-depth investigation into the transactions. When some of the payments were reviewed, it showed that some of the checks had allegedly been altered from what was initially approved based on bank records. The payees on the checks had either been changed to “cash” or written in Westrich’s name. As the investigation continued, bank records showed numerous checks cashed in Westrich’s name. When the discrepancies continued to show Westrich’s name, the SCSO, with the assistance of a state financial auditor, entered the investigation. When investigators reviewed the findings, it was discovered that Westrich had allegedly defrauded RIVEROAK by just under $50,000. “All checks found to have FDO (For Deposit Only) on the back and endorsed by Westrich or having her personal bank account number on them, through legal process, were found to have been deposited into her personal bank account,” the source said. Westrich was arrested and booked at the Suwannee County Jail following the conclusion of the investigation, where she bonded out an hour later Riverbend News will continue to keep the community updated on further developments in a future issue.