JACKSON- State Auditor Stacey Pickering announced today that Manika Kelly, a former clerk for the Town of Anguilla, has pleaded guilty to one felony count of Grand Larceny.

Kelly, 35, embezzled $107,444.67 from the town of Anguilla over a five-year period from October 2006 through November 2011. On September 18, 2012, the Auditor’s Office issued a demand in the amount of $141,026.30 and Pickering returned $108,000 to the Town of Anguilla on January 8, 2013, which is the full amount for which Kelly was bonded. Kelly pled guilty to one count of Grand Larceny on January 6, 2014.

On January 13, 2014 she was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $10,000 and was sentenced to 10 years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections with 10 years suspended and five years of supervised probation.

“This case is an example of where a shortage of funds was discovered during a routine audit of the town, and we were able to determine that Ms. Kelly was embezzling money from the taxpayers of Anguilla,” Pickering said. “I am happy that we were able to return these funds to the town last year.”

Kelly was placed on administrative leave on December 6, 2011 and terminated on February 7, 2012.

###