Allison Morris, former Mayfield Graves County Chamber president, indicted for theft exceeding $10,000

[TylerDurden]

WPSD news reports that former chamber president Allison Morris was indicted on Tuesday for theft by unlawful taking, stealing in excess of $10,000 but less than $1 MM from the chamber. She resigned from the job in February. Charges are a Class C felony.

https://www.wpsdlocal6.com/news/former-mayfield-graves-chamber-of-commerce-president-allison-morris-indicted/article_e2be2406-1975-11ef-8654-8fab9d00b9a2.html

[TylerDurden]

Allison Morris is wife to former Mayfield High School head football coach Joe Morris, who surreptitiously retired on May 10, is she not?

[Voice of Reason]

5 hours ago, TylerDurden said:

Allison Morris is wife to former Mayfield High School head football coach Joe Morris, who surreptitiously retired on May 10, is she not?

Good word. Although I don't know if it is possible for Joe Morris to retire surreptitiously.

[theguru]

 

[Cincinnati Cobra]

5 hours ago, TylerDurden said:

Allison Morris is wife to former Mayfield High School head football coach Joe Morris, who surreptitiously retired on May 10, is she not?

It is Coach Morris' wife. I've got to think this situation is directly related to his retirement out of the blue. My first big question is whether or not Coach Morris was the one who decided to retire, or if that call was made by the school/school district. I know I would feel ill at ease about having someone whose spouse stole over $10K from her place of work being one of my employees.

I'm curious to know how the theft took place and what the total amount she stole was. Any financially solvent business is going to realize pretty quickly when $10K+ goes missing all at once. And any spouse with much of a clue about their family's finances is gonna notice their bank account getting a big shot in the arm like that. How is Coach Morris supposed to reasonably cast away doubts that he knew his wife's theft? Is it possible that she was theoretically taking $20 a day from petty cash for like two years and finally got caught?

[Jumper_Dad]

Looking at their revenue and expenses I'd guess the amount doesn't approach $100k or even close to that.

The Chamber shows revenue of around $90,000 and expenses of around $120,000 as recent as 2022, with about $60,000 in total assets.

[BEChargers]

An indictment is not a conviction.  Don't know Coach Morris or his wife but she's innocent until proven guilty. 

[MFNCCards]

Yes this is Coach Joes wife. And this is not the first time the Mayfield Chamber of Commerce has had this happen unfortunately. Will have to wait to see what Coach did or did not know and what amount is being talked about. But it does bring things into some perspective. 

Edited May 24, 2024 by MFNCCards
Typo

[rjs4470]

4 hours ago, Cincinnati Cobra said:

It is Coach Morris' wife. I've got to think this situation is directly related to his retirement out of the blue. My first big question is whether or not Coach Morris was the one who decided to retire, or if that call was made by the school/school district. I know I would feel ill at ease about having someone whose spouse stole over $10K from her place of work being one of my employees.

I'm curious to know how the theft took place and what the total amount she stole was. Any financially solvent business is going to realize pretty quickly when $10K+ goes missing all at once. And any spouse with much of a clue about their family's finances is gonna notice their bank account getting a big shot in the arm like that. How is Coach Morris supposed to reasonably cast away doubts that he knew his wife's theft? Is it possible that she was theoretically taking $20 a day from petty cash for like two years and finally got caught?

It probably didn't go missing all at once. Probably occurred over a period of time, a few hundred here and there. That's how people are able to get away with these crimes for a while. Plus Chamber's primary sources of income are membership dues. There is no exchange of goods or even services. And probably only a couple of paid employees, with her being the only one actively involved in finances, so very few if any checks and balances. Divert a dues check here and there, and boom over a period of time, it adds up. And it's pretty easy to hide money from your spouse. You can open an account online, have statements sent to your email address, all without your spouse having a clue. This is likely a crime of opportunity that started small, and slowly grew bigger as she continued to get away with it.

[Jumper_Dad]

Reports tonight from KSP saying the amount is right at $50,000. Indictment indicates thefts began when she was appointed interim President in 2021 and continued up until two days before her resignation. All according to WPSD news.

[Voice of Reason]

"There is a sufficiency in the world for man's need but not for man's greed."

Gandhi

[theguru]

6 hours ago, Jumper_Dad said:

Reports tonight from KSP saying the amount is right at $50,000. Indictment indicates thefts began when she was appointed interim President in 2021 and continued up until two days before her resignation. All according to WPSD news.

Ouch!

[gbballfan21]

Didn't Joe quit teaching a few years ago?

I am really hesitant to attach Joe's retiring from coaching as something that is directly related to his wife's situation (I can understand having an indirect impact). 

I just feel like he was retiring if they beat Beechwood in 2022 ...or retiring like he did this year. I could be wrong ...but Coach Joe is getting the benefit of the doubt until some additional information is provided.

[Jumper_Dad]

1 hour ago, gbballfan21 said:

Didn't Joe quit teaching a few years ago?

I am really hesitant to attach Joe's retiring from coaching as something that is directly related to his wife's situation (I can understand having an indirect impact). 

I just feel like he was retiring if they beat Beechwood in 2022 ...or retiring like he did this year. I could be wrong ...but Coach Joe is getting the benefit of the doubt until some additional information is provided.

I'd be willing to say he retired when he did,  because he knew this was coming and would be a huge distraction for Mayfield Football going forward.

[rjs4470]

11 hours ago, Jumper_Dad said:

Reports tonight from KSP saying the amount is right at $50,000. Indictment indicates thefts began when she was appointed interim President in 2021 and continued up until two days before her resignation. All according to WPSD news.

That sounds like a lot of money (and if someone stole $50k from me it would certainly hurt), but it's really not all that much over 3 years...a couple to a few hundred dollars per week. Not at all a life changing amount of money, and definitely not worth the risk of getting caught. But it's just enough money to bring some serious charges, repercussions and total destruction to your reputation. And definitely do enough damage to make your husband leave a very high profile, public position because of the heat it that come with the crime.

I've also been involved in investigating enough internal theft cases that the total amount stated publicly, is probably less (and in a lot of cases, MUCH less) than the actual amount stolen.