Calhoun and Liberty County Health Department’s business manager, 47 year-old Kelly King, was arrested last Thursday night after a complaint was filed by the Florida Department of Financial Services. The state agency claimed King had used a state credit card for fraudulant purchases.
The complaint claims King allegedly spent nearly $158,000 for her own personal gain, $95,000 of which was charged on her health department purchasing card. The agency identified 54 suspect purchases from November 8, 2019, until August 10, 2021. Two charges were allegedly made on another employee’s card. The suspicious charges ranged from $400 to $9,500.
King had turned over invoices showing the funds had been spent at three companies who were discovered not to have websites or contacts listed for any of them. The companies named on the invoices were Woodland Business Essentials, Custom Renovations and Repairs and Mycom Promotions. Although investigators could not find the address for Mycom, almost $12,000 was spent with them for 1,500 men’s toiletry bags.
During their investigation, DFS eventually discovered the address provided by King was the residence of her aunt.
King’s supervisor with the Health Department, Rachel Bryant, became suspicious of the purchases when she noticed none of the businesses were approved state vendors. All of the supsicious purchases were similar in size and not typical items purchased by the Health Department.
Charges against King listed in the arrest report included: larceny/grand 1st degree over 100K dollars, public order crimes/agg white color crime government, 50K dollars or more, fraud-swindle/obtain property 50K dollars or more, bribery/unlaw compensation reward official behavior.
King was released the day following her arrest on $155,000 bond.
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