North Texas Daily

Denton Animal Services Supervisor, Woodie Wilson, turned himself in last Friday in connection with the theft of $34,000 from the city’s animal shelter, Denton police said.

Wilson, 50, faces a second-degree felony theft charge that caries a sentence of 2-20 years in prison, and a possible $10,000 fine if convicted.

According to police, Wilson had been stealing cash from the shelter since October 2015. In late July, investigators learned that there could possibly be discrepancies in the Linda McNatt Animal Care and Adoption Center’s daily deposits. When reviewing the shelter’s credit and cash flow into the shelter’s account, police found that the accounts deposits contained little or no cash.

Using deposits, credit card transactions, accounting files and adoption records they determined how much money should have been deposited each day. Often adoption records said that a customer paid in cash, but no cash was deposited that day to the shelter’s account. Wilson was found to be responsible for 222 of the 238 deposits the shelter made from October 2015– July 2016, but only two of his deposits contained cash that made it to the bank.

Investigators found that the money stolen ranged from $15 – $585 daily.

After the warrant was issued for his arrest Friday, Wilson was fired from his job with the city.

Wilson’s story may not be the last because since 2011 Denton’s city council has not had an internal auditor. As of Aug. 23, the council voted for the position to be filled after receiving pressure from citizens. As the new auditor takes on the role, more corruption by city employees may be exposed.

@TiffanyDitto