Coke Co. Sheriff: Investigation Under Way into Possible "Financial Improprieties" by City Officials

ROBERT LEE, TX -- Robert Lee City funds have gone missing and the Coke County Sheriff's Office is conducting an investigation into the disappearance, Sheriff Wayne McCutchen said on Wednesday.

The investigation was opened on Feb. 5.

The investigation is still in the early stages and the Coke County Sheriff's Office does not have an official dollar figure.

"We're still going through bank statements and receipts," McCutchen said. "This will be a long investigation."

A letter from Mayor Pro Tem Roger Alexander to the Editor of The Observer/Enterprise in Coke County was published in the Feb. 8, 2019, publication. It accused Mayor Allyson Crenshaw, PhD, of using $109,431.01 from the city for personal expenses. An anonymous source also accused Crenshaw of misappropriating city funds.

No suspects have officially been named by the Sheriff's Office.

"The new mayor was living off the city credit cards ... and is now being investigated for theft," the source accused, before adding they believed Crenshaw was selling items like the city safe.

At a City Council meeting on Feb. 4, The Observer/Enterprise reported that the council passed a motion to "restrict the mayor's access to City Hall."

The disappearance was first noticed in December 2018, when Crenshaw paid her personal electric bill and City Council was first found out the City had debit cards, Alexander added in his letter to the paper.

This is a developing story.