Former Johnson County court accountant accused of embezzling more than $1 million
A former accountant for the Johnson County District Court Clerk’s Office is accused of embezzling more than $1 million in payments that were made to the clerk’s office over the course of 10 years, according to a federal complaint.
Dawna Kellogg, of Paola, Kansas, is accused of running a fraud scheme in which she re-directed payments made to the clerk’s office into her personal account. A criminal complaint outlining the case was filed by federal prosecutors in the U.S. District of Kansas on Friday, alleging eight counts of wire fraud and three counts of filing a false tax return.
According to court records, Kellogg was employed as an accounting supervisor between April 2003 and June 2017. Her role gave her control over the court’s finances, including management of the accounting department, collecting funds from county systems and depositing funds into the clerk of court’s trust account.
Prosecutors allege Kellogg used her position to steal incoming cash, including bail bond payments, and either spent the money or deposited proceeds into her personal bank accounts. She concealed the fraud by writing fake checks payable to the clerk’s office that were drawn from its own trust account, according to the complaint.
Between January 2007 and June 2017, prosecutors allege Kellogg had nearly 500 checks issued by the clerk’s office to create a payable receipt with the Justice Information Management System, which was used by the court to keep track of financial transactions. The checks ranged in amount from $100 to $10,000 apiece, the complaint says.
In addition to stealing more than $1 million, Kellogg is accused of intentionally filing false tax returns. Over a three-year period, she allegedly made $278,725 in the scheme that was not reported to the Internal Revenue Service.
The case against Kellogg comes two months after Johnson County officials acknowledged an ongoing investigation prompted by “accounting irregularities” that were discovered within the Johnson County District Court Clerk’s Office.
Court Administrator Laura Brewer told The Star at the time that the office had found the issue and alerted federal authorities because illegal activity could not be ruled out.
The Star’s Zach Murdock contributed to this report.
This story was originally published March 7, 2022 at 4:32 PM.
