At the beginning of this year, Carbon County Sheriff’s Office Detective Travis Henrie was notified of possible misuse of a charge card, as well as missing cash donations, for the Children’s Justice Center (CJC).
Detective Henrie was provided with multiple receipts that had been dated back to August of 2023. It was observed that cosmetic products were listed on one of the receipts, which had been provided by Jamie Ellner. Director Shelley Wright affirmed that the products were not something that would be bought for the shelter, which prompted her to look further into this possible misuse.
Wright advised Detective Henrie that the card is used by employees to purchase items for the shelter and these items are requested from different departments within the CJC. An employee, typically Ellner, would then go to the store and make the requested purchases.
The employee was then instructed to return with the items and the receipt. Upon looking further into the possible misuse, Wright had discovered that there were many receipts that had not been returned. This was discovered when Wright requested receipts directly from the company that the charge card was attached to.
These receipts, according to Wright, had numerous items that had never been requested and would not be requested by the CJC, as well as food items that would not have been purchased at the time, due to not having children within the shelter then.
Upon video surveillance that was retrieved for the investigation, Ellner was documented purchasing items with the card in question. It was alleged that these items never went back to the center and the card was also used to purchase gas and a television. With this evidence, Detective Henrie requested more information regarding days that Ellner worked and days children were at the shelter since August of 2023.
He discovered that all unapproved transactions on the card were on days that Ellner was working and had shopped for the center. There were several receipts that had large grocery orders and many were made on days that no children were at the shelter, meaning there would be no need for the food.
Then, Wright advised of a $300 anonymous cash donation that had gone missing, as well as a $40 cash donation. Anonymous donations to the CJC are taken to the Carbon County Administration Building, where the county would provide a due-bill as proof and record of donation. Both donations were given to Ellner and there it was reported that there was no record of the donations at the county.
On April 9, an interview was conducted by an officer with the Carbon County Sheriff’s Office, Taylor Allen Cox, for the listed allegations. Ellner agreed to speak with Cox, and stated that she knew why she was being interviewed. Ellner allegedly informed the detective that she believed that she had made a mistake in using the charge card and intended to pay the money back, but never did.
When Officer Cox advised that there were a lot of purchases over a long period of time, he reported that Ellner admitted to using the card for personal use. In working with Ellner to determine which items she had purchased on the card for herself, from August 2023 to present, the amount totaled to over $3,000.
In regard to the missing donations, Ellner reportedly informed Officer Cox that the larger purchase was one she had not found and that the envelope it was stored in was empty when she located it. On the smaller amount, Ellner admitted to pocketing it and stated that she forgot to make the donation.
Due to Ellner knowingly using a financial transaction card to obtain goods that exceeded $1,500 but was less than $5,000, she was charged with a count of unlawful use of a financial transaction card. She was also charged with misuse of public money or public property for using the public property purchased with the card for her own benefit.