Former City of Moss Point Employees Plead Guilty to Embezzlement

June 4, 2019

JACKSON, Miss. – Today State Auditor Shad White announced two former employees of the City of Moss Point, Kenya Bowens and Lakeshia Benton, have both pled guilty to embezzlement in Jackson County Circuit Court. Both women are scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Dale Harkey on June 11. The case was investigated by Special Agents from the Mississippi Office of the State Auditor and prosecuted by the office of District Attorney for the 19th District Angel McIlrath.

Bowens and Benton were arrested by Special Agents from the Auditor’s office in January 2019 for embezzling over $13,000 from Moss Point’s water department. The former city employees collected cash payments from individuals paying water bill fines and later voided the transaction receipts for fine payment. The two employees would then embezzle the fines they collected. They concealed the cash collected from the fines in paper to take the cash from their office and met outside of work, after hours, to split the money. The scheme was discovered when a water department manager noticed the excessive amount of voided transactions recorded by Bowens and Benton.

“It’s good to see justice done in this case. Theft of public funds is not a victimless crime. The taxpayers and anyone paying a water bill in Moss Point were the victims,” said Auditor White. “Every water department in the state should take notice. This kind of behavior is being monitored. We will hold you accountable if you steal.”

The Auditor’s office has already recovered and returned the full amount of the demands—over $30,000—to the City of Moss Point.

Suspected fraud can be reported to the Auditor’s office online any time by clicking the red button at www.osa.ms.gov or via telephone during normal business hours at 1-(800)-321-1275.