Former Detention Center employee charged with embezzlement

Melissa Ann Sprueill, 42, a former administrative assistant at the Kay County Detention Center, has been arrested on a felony count of embezzlement.

In an affidavit filed in the case, the Office of the State Auditor and Inspector reported that a special audit was performed April 6 covering a five-year period from 2011 to 2015. They audit found $363,565.97 missing from the commissary account at the Detention Center.

Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Marty Wilson said in the affidavit that he interviewed KCDC Director Don Jones, who said Sprueill was in charge of the commissary account, prepared the deposits for the account and was the person who took the deposits to the bank.

The affidavit says that Jones told him Sprueill admitted in January that she had been taking money from the account for the entire time, and had no idea how much she had taken over the five years. Jones asked Sprueill for her resignation on Jan. 7, 2016.

On Jan. 8, Sprueill told OSBI agents the same story she had told Jones. She said she had developed a gambling problem and was frequenting casinos around Newkirk, Oklahoma. At that point, she started taking money from the account, pocketing cash and making a deposit slip match the amount actually going into the bank.

Sprueill was booked into the Kay County Detention Center Friday morning and bonded out about a half hour later.

Bond originally was set at $50,000 but was reduced to $5,000 at Sprueill’s initial appearance on Friday. Conditions were set for the reduced bond; Sprueill cannot be in any casinos or on the internet, and must remain in Kay and Noble County. Sprueill lives in Morrison, Oklahoma.

A status docket has been set for July 8.