Auditor follows up with Callaway County after embezzling case
State auditor Nicole Galloway released a follow-up report for Callaway County five months after the county’s former collector was sentenced for embezzling nearly $300,000 from the county.
The report, which was released on Thursday, found that Callaway County has taken steps to increase oversight.
“Our audits provide recommendations for officials to put in place increased oversight and better safeguards for public dollars, and that’s especially important after fraud occurs,” Galloway said in a news release. “By implementing the recommendations of the audit, Callaway County officials are working to protect those taxpayer dollars and restore the trust of citizens.”
Pamela Oestreich, who was the previous collector, pleaded guilty to the embezzlement. Her sentence requires her to spend two and a half years in prison and to pay the county $379,588 in restitution for the crime, which includes $280,000 in direct damages, the cost of the state audit that was performed in response to the crime and the cost of a private audit.
Since then, the county has implemented seven of the auditor’s recommendations, and another five are in progress.
