ECMS Football Booster Treasurer Arrested For Misuse Of Funds

Edmonson Voice Staff
​The now former treasurer of the Edmonson County Middle School Football Boosters was arrested this morning on several theft charges after an investigation led to the discovery of thousands of dollars missing from the booster club's bank account, going as far back as October, 2015.

Police said Middle School administrators were in the process of ordering some end-of-the season clothing for the team which was going to be a rather large purchase. When a school official double-checked the balance of the account, which was supposed to be in the amount of $3,000-$4,000, they discovered the balance was only six dollars.

Police said calls were made to Jennifer Elmore, the current treasurer, in an attempt to locate the missing money. It was reported that she claimed she had valid receipts for all purchases, but none were ever produced. After further investigation, school officials discovered at least $5,000 in cash or purchases for which are yet to be accounted.

"The school gave her every benefit of the doubt at first," said Chief Deputy and Edmonson County Resource Officer Jeff Brooks. "She told the school she had receipts for everything, and they told her that's all they needed, but she wouldn't show up to provide them. The school kept trying to arrange meetings, and she'd never show. She finally stopped all communication so eventually, she was arrested."

Police said several unaccounted checks were written from the booster account, signed by Elmore and made out to "cash."

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Jennifer Elmore, 37, Cave City (Hart Co. Jail)

Elmore, 37, now of Cave City, was arrested and charged with Theft by unlawful taking or disposition $500 or over, but under $10,000, Theft by unlawful taking-all others under $500, and Theft by failure to make required disposition of property. 

One school official said that a completely new "checks and balances" system has been implemented in order to prevent this from happening again, and that this was the first year Elmore had served as treasurer. The school said everything was fine until the last two weeks of the season, and that they never had any reason to doubt Elmore's capability of the position.

Officials said the middle school had to scramble to find funds from other school sources in order to scrape up the amount needed to make the last purchase of the season.

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