Former Johnson County court accountant pleads guilty to embezzling more than $1 million
A former accounting supervisor for Johnson County District Court admitted in court Tuesday to embezzling more than $1 million and creating false documents to cover up the crime, federal prosecutors said Tuesday.
Dawna Kellogg, 61, of Williamsburg, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of making a false tax return, court records show. Prosecutors said the fraud scheme amounted to $1.1 million and took place over the course of 10 years.
According to court papers, Kellogg — who was employed under her previous name Dawna Brandt — admitted that she stole cash deposits meant for court services between January 2010 and June 2017. She resigned from her job in June 2017 after she was reprimanded for failing to report that she had been living with a subordinate employee, court records state.
Prosecutors said Kellogg stole cash coming into the court, including bail bond payments, and spent the money or deposited the proceeds into her personal bank account. She kept the fraud from being discovered by manipulating an unclaimed property account or creating an open payable to the Johnson County District Court Clerk to cover the amount she stole, according to court records.
The accounting issues were first discovered in 2018 after a review of funds reported in the Justice Information Management System, which the court uses to track bond payments, did not match what was held in the Johnson County District Court Clerk’s checking account. Nearly 500 checks were discovered to have been drawn on the checking account that were made payable to the clerk’s office. Investigators found that Kellog had created all of the checks, court papers state.
During a police interview, Kellogg allegedly admitted that she was spending the money she took on bills and other day-to day expenses. She told investigators she did not keep track of how much she took, according to court papers.
The case was investigated by the FBI and the criminal investigations division of the Internal Revenue Service.
In a statement Tuesday, Special Agent in Charge Charles Dayoub of the FBI’s Kansas City office said Kellogg “defrauded the public for personal financial gain.”
“When someone in a position of public trust redirects incoming cash payments for city bonds, fines, and court costs to their personal bank account it threatens the very core of our government institutions,” Dayoub said. “Today’s agreement underscores the importance of holding those whose criminal actions degrade the public’s trust accountable.”
Tyler Hatcher, special agent in charge of the IRS Criminal Investigation, said the agency will “aggressively pursue those who threaten to defraud the very court system which provides justice to all.”
Kellogg is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 16. Under federal law, she faces up to 20 years in prison on the wire fraud charge and three years for filing a false tax return.
