The total of alleged stolen funds from the City of Flippin by its former Police Chief Ronald “Dusty” Smith has grown to more than $63,000, according to the results of an investigation by the Arkansas Legislative Audit. The audit results are contained in a probable cause affidavit filed Thursday. The affidavit indicates a Class B felony count of theft of property has been filed against Smith, reflective of the increased dollar amount of the missing funds.
The original affidavit filed in late November followed an investigation by Arkansas State Police at the request of 14th Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney David Ethredge into the misuse of over $8,000 in funds from the City of Flippin. The investigation led to Smith’s arrest on a Class C felony count of theft of property. The count reflects the amount of missing property ranging from $5,000 to $25,000.
The investigation leading to Smith’s arrest was triggered when the city’s keeper of the records, identified only as a part-time employee, received an email from a bank saying the former police chief’s city credit card was within 20 percent of its limit. This was a concern because Smith was apparently on vacation from the Flippin Police Department and heading to Florida to work for a private company. An October bank statement noted $3,700 on Smith’s card. Ninety percent of those charges were from outside the state of Arkansas.
After the request for the State Police investigation, Ethredge requested an audit by the Arkansas Legislative Audit to be conducted from January 1, 2015 to the present for any credit cards, police accounts, drug buy accounts, and any accounts associated with Smith during this time frame.
According to the latest affidavit, the auditor reported from January 1, 2015 to the present Smith misused $63,718.84 in funds from the City of Flippin. No further specifics are provided indicating from which accounts the funds were allegedly taken.
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