Former Crawford County Deputy Clerk charged with Theft, Obstructing Justice and Official Misconduct

UPDATE—According to Sgt. Chad Dick of the Jasper Indiana State Police Post, Montgomery was not processing the tickets causing the state to lose the revenue from the traffic citations. The $100,000 is a loss for the state and county due to her negligence. In addition to the loss of the revenue, the citations involved in the case issued against motorists were never processed and therefore did not affect their driving records.

Crawford Co.—On Tuesday, July 24, former Crawford County Deputy Clerk Debra Montgomery was arrested and charged with Theft over $100,000, Obstructing Justice, and Official Misconduct.

On November 11, 2011 the Indiana State Police Special Investigations/Organized Crime and Corruption Unit began the criminal investigation after receiving information that Debra J. Montgomery, 56, Taswell had allegedly failed to collect and process over $100,000 in traffic ticket fines.

Montgomery had been employed as a Deputy Clerk for Crawford County from 2002 to April of 2011. Part of her responsibilities as the Deputy Clerk was to collect and process all traffic tickets that were issued in Crawford County. The investigation revealed that while being the Deputy Clerk she failed to process and collect over $100,000 in traffic fines. The investigation also revealed that some tickets that had been adjudicated were never sent to the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles to be processed.

Through the six month investigation Trooper Detective Tim Denby established enough probable cause for arrest warrants to be issued for Montgomery. On Tuesday the Crawford County Sheriff’s Office served the arrest warrants on Montgomery and she bonded out on a $7,500 bond.