FORT GAY, W.Va. -- The Mayor and Town Recorder for Fort Gay in Wayne County have been arrested in an alleged embezzlement scheme.
Mayor Joetta Hatfield, 68, and city Recorder/Treasurer Sheila Bowen, are both charged with fraudulent schemes, embezzlement, falsifying accounts, and money laundering in the case which involved $20,000 in city funds.
State Police arrested the two after an investigation which began earlier this year. The State Auditor's office received a tip which was passed along to Troopers in October involving the two individuals.
Court documents indicate State Police believe from March 2019 to May of 2024, Hatfield and Brown used their positions to redirect the money away from city coffers an dultimately into their own pockets. Investigators said they were able to use their positions in municipal government to do it without alerting suspicion .
"These schemes were subsequently obscured from the Fort Gay Town Council by omission and falsification of financial documents, upon which the Town Council would view and use to make financial decisions," Cpl. C.J. Eastridge said in the complaint. "This was possible because both Hatfield and Bowen possessed signature authority on town bank accounts and had access to all checkbooks and debit cards."
Investigators claim the two would use checkbooks which were tied to various city accounts and write checks to themselves. According to troopers Hatfield had 107 checks written to her for $96,420.20 then Bowen had 103 checks written in the total amount of $94, 450.14. The two were able to hide the missing money from members of city council. Bowen used funds from the town's water account to pay her personal electric bill on 15 different occasions.
"It should be noted that Sheila Bowen also admitted in a recorded audio statement that she did use Town of Fort Gay funds for her to pay these personal bills," Eastridge said. He went on to say that legitimate AEP payments for the town were present on the registers given to the town council while the personal payments were omitted."
Hatfield is also accused of using the town's water works checking account and routing numbers to pay her private Frontier Communications services on 29 occasions for a total of $3,909.97. She also is accused of using various town accounts to pay her private AEP bills 14 different times for a total of $8,908.09.