By Jeremy D. Wells
Carter County Times
Former Carter County Tourism treasurer Renee Stewart was indicted in August on charges of theft by unlawful taking of more than $10,000.00, a Class C Felony.
However the full extent of Stewart’s alleged embezzlement has now been revealed in the Commonwealth’s answer to discovery order from Stewart’s attorney. That accounting shows that Stewart reportedly used the tourism debit card to withdraw more than $14,700 in cash, including ATM fees, which account for the lion’s share of lost funds.
She allegedly spent another $2,800 plus on grocery and department store purchases for personal use, more than $650 on clothing, $234 on dining out (including DoorDash fast food delivery), $207 on gas, and $545 on digital purchases through Apple. Purchases from other vendors in the accounting included $380 spent at Walgreens, $340 at Dollar General, and $485 on items labeled miscellaneous – including $117 for fingernails and multiple Venmo payments. “Questionable items,” amounting to $316 of purchases, included items from Hobby Lobby and Rural King.
Though the discovery documents do not explicitly explain what a questionable item is, given the vendors involved it’s probable that these are items that could have potentially been legitimate purchases for tourism events.
Receipts also show that Stewart used the tourism account to pay $800 of her personal utility bills, including payments to KY Power and the City of Grayson.
In total, Stewart’s alleged misuse comes to $21,494.84 of unapproved and personal purchases.
When first approached by tourism board members over the missing funds, though, she reportedly told tourism president Chris Perry that she thought she’d borrowed no more than $5,000 for personal use.
According to a report from Kentucky State Police (KSP) Detective Jeffery Kelley, which included a written statement from Perry, Perry and board member Kara Johnson met with Stewart after discovering the missing funds. During that meeting Stewart reportedly told Perry and Johnson that after losing her job, “she was having a hard time and went down a road she should not have gone down. (She) (k)ept telling us she was sorry and was embarrassed by the situation. When asked how much she felt she had taken, she state a maximum of $5,000.00.”
The report also included a photocopy of a handwritten apology from Stewart in the form of a formal resignation letter.
“Effective immediately, I resign from the Carter County Tourism Commission,” the letter reads. “I am deeply sorry and disappointed in myself, that my selfish actions have caused embarrassment and (illegible) to the commission. I will do everything possible and that I am asked to do to rectify the situation.”
In Perry’s written statement he explains that he became aware of the situation on June 20, after receiving a call from tourism board member Jonathan Lewis. Lewis, who is also an employee at Commercial Bank, called to inform Perry that the board’s account was overdrawn by more than $1,000.
“I asked Jonathan how that could be, and he advised me that I needed to look at the bank statements,” Perry’s statement noted.
After retrieving and reviewing those statements, Perry said, he approached Carter County Attorney Brian Bayes, who advised Perry to turn the matter over to the KSP. Perry did that the same day according to his written statement. (Though his statement says he turned them over to KSP on, “that Thursday, the 29th,” instead of June 20, the statement itself is dated June 24, and June 29 was a Saturday. In that context the June 29 dates on Perry’s statement appears to be a typographical error.)
Perry then notes that he called for a special meeting of the board for the next day, Friday June 21 at 3 p.m.
After sending out a notice for the next day’s special meeting, Perry said he and Johnson met with Stewart that same evening at 5:30 p.m. During that meeting, according to Perry’s statement, “we sat down with Renee, and I informed her that we had some irregularities in our finances and that the board was going to suspend her as the treasurer until an investigation could be completed.”
“I informed her that I had already notified the County Attorney and the Kentucky State Police,” Perry’s statement continued. “She proceeded to beg with us not to turn it over to the State Police, that she would pay it all back. I advised her that it was out of our hands now.”
According to the statement it was at this point in their conversation with Stewart that she advised Perry and Johnson that she’d been having a hard time since losing her job, and stated that she had not taken more than $5,000.
Perry’s statement notes that after Stewart’s admission, “At that point, I suggested to her that she go ahead and resign from the board. She filed her resignation and apologized in the resignation for what she had done.”
Later that evening, Perry’s statement concluded, he received the full accounting of charges and determined the full extent of damages.
“I received all the copies of the bank statements and proceeded to add up the charges, and by the time I was done with them the charges were way over $20,000.00,” he noted. “The board met and accepted her resignation.”
Stewart was scheduled for an appearance and pretrial conference before Judge Rebecca Phillips on Monday, and was scheduled at that time to appear before the court again next month.
Contact the writer at editor@cartercountytimes.com
