Douglas DA says more than $17,000 missing from Justice Court

District Attorney Scott Doyle said on Thursday that $17,700 apparently has disappeared gradually from East Fork Justice Court coffers since 1996.

And he said that's just a preliminary audit. The actual figure could be more.

A court clerk was put on unpaid leave in June while investigators checked into embezzlement allegations.

Doyle said the clerk has hired a lawyer and has not talked to investigators. County officials have refused to release her name pending the outcome of the investigation.

The East Fork Justice Court has six clerks. Their duties include collecting and recording payments for fines, bail and other court-ordered fees.

The court's fee-collection efforts were criticized in a 1994 grand jury report that said former Justice of the Peace Doug Struthers was lax in enforcing collection of the fines he imposed.

Current Justice of the Peace Jim EnEarl began aggressively collecting fines when he took office in 1995, and installed a computer-aided case management system that includes software to track court payments.

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