Former City Employee Sentenced to Five Years for Stealing City Funds

A former city of San Angelo employee confessed to stealing city funds on Monday in Judge Jay Weatherby’s 340^th District Court and was sentenced to 730 days in state jail probated to five years.

Diana L. Farris, 52, was serving as the city’s property specialist when an internal audit revealed that Farris had never deposited multiple cash payments into the city’s bank account.

City Internal Auditor Steve Mahaffey discovered the missing funds during an audit on May 14, resulting in Farris’ immediate termination from the position. The theft is alleged to have taken place between Sept. 25, 2013 and May 12, 2014.

According to an affidavit for an arrest warrant filed by San Angelo Police Detective Matthew Vaughn on May 29, 2014, a total of eight cash payments equaling $8,026 provided to Farris had never been deposited.

“The defendant had provided the customers with receipts, photocopied the U.S. currency used to make the payments, but there was no corresponding deposit made to the bank,” Vaughn wrote.

As part of the investigation, Vaughn reviewed the video surveillance footage of Farris’ desk and saw her put cash into her purse on two separate occasions, the affidavit states.

After her termination, SAPD officer Charles Barker was issuing Farris a criminal trespass warning from city of San Angelo property when he saw $400 in cash fall out of her purse. Along with the money was a city of San Angelo receipt for the same sum.

“A serial number from the money found in the defendant’s purse identically matched the serial number of a bill taken as payment from a customer on the 12th day of May, 2014,” the affidavit states.

On May 30, SAPD Officer Spearman located Farris at her residence in the 4100 block of Forest Trail and executed a county warrant for her arrest. Farris was booked that afternoon for theft equal to or more than $1,500 but less than $20k, a state jail felony punishable by 180 days to 2 years confinement and an optional fine not to exceed $10k. She was released on May 31 on a $3,000 surety bond.

Two city employees showed up to the hearing on Monday, but had no comment on the case.

Farris has also been ordered to pay $7,626 in restitution, and her probation has been moved to Schleicher County, where she currently resides. The $400 recovered by officer Barker was deducted from the total amount she attempted to steal, hence the lower restitution sum.

As a condition of her probation, Farris will be made to complete the petty theft prevention program.

As Property Specialist, Farris was responsible for managing the lease of city-owned properties and routinely handled cash payments made to the city’s Real Estate Division.

According to the city website, the Real Estate Division was created on Oct. 1, 2012. The office, the site states, is responsible for “the acquisition, management and disposition of the City’s real estate interests,” and “the management of the recovery of financial obligations owed to the city”.