Cortez City Manager John Dougherty announced Friday that a former city employee might have stolen money from the city.
“It has come to my attention this morning that a former employee has allegedly been embezzling from the City,” Dougherty wrote in a statement.
An investigation is ongoing, and many details are still unknown at this point, Dougherty said. However, he said that the city is looking to keep the public apprised of what’s happening and to be transparent.
“This was one bad apple, it is not reflective of any of the employees I have been associated with here,” Dougherty told The Journal in an email. “Overall, it is a hardworking group who genuinely care about their community.”
The investigation is in the process of determining exactly how much money was allegedly embezzled – they were given a range that wasn’t extensive in the “grand scheme of our budget,” he said, and will not affect city services. However, they will be asking for restitution.
“It doesn’t matter whether it was an ink pen or a billion dollars, the public trust has been violated,” Dougherty said.
Dougherty added that it remains to be seen if there was a relationship between the city’s delayed financial audits and the alleged embezzlement.
The city is now waiting on the findings of the investigation, and will be discussing the issue with City Council in the coming weeks. The former employee has hired a defense attorney, and “allegedly they are looking to cooperate,” Dougherty said.
“Our No. 1 objective will be to recover the money and find out how it happened so we can put controls in place so it doesn’t happen again,” he said.
ealvero@the-journal.com
