Former museum worker claims innocence

A former Sweetwater County Museum employee accused of stealing money from the museum pleaded not guilty to two felony charges.

Cynthia J. McCullers, 51, of Green River, recently appeared in the Third District Court of Judge Nena James at an arraignment to a felony larceny charge and a felony theft charge. She pleaded not guilty to both charges. If found guilty of both felonies, McCullers could face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of $20,000. Documents also state a restitution of $28,620 is being sought in this case. A jury trial has been scheduled for Nov. 30 at 9 a.m.

According to court documents, McCullers’ charges were filed after Sweetwater County Museum Board’s Treasurer, Tim Winger completed an internal audit on the museum’s finances.

On Nov. 12, 2014, the Green River Police Department was contacted by board president Danielle Mathey regarding the possibility that McCullers was embezzling museum funds.

An officer spoke with Winger, who said he went through the records to get a balance of how much money the museum’s gift shop generated, as the funds are used to purchase items for the store.

During his review of the store’s bank records and register tape, Winger was unable to account for approximately $4,000 that should have been deposited between Jan. 1, 2014, and mid September of 2014. Winger also claimed McCullers failed to make cash deposits for the museum throughout the year.

On Sept. 11, 2014, the museum board met in regular session to discuss finances.

Prior to the meeting, Mathey was informed through the Sweetwater County Treasurer’s Office the museum’s books were not properly maintained. After the meeting, then museum director Ruth Lauritzen was informed of the problem and she agreed to discuss the issue with McCullers.

The following day, McCullers resigned.

Lauritzen met with a GRPD officer Dec. 1, 2014, and told him about a pay discrepancy she found involving two former interns. The museum’s accounting software recorded payments made to the interns after their employment at the museum ended, with a total $5,268.71 from those two checks allegedly going into McCullers’ bank account. That same month, Mathey decided to seek a forensic audit of the museum’s finances.

The audit, completed Feb. 12, 2015, stated the museum itself suffered a loss of $9,542, while the museum store lost $19,078 between January of 2005 and December of 2014. The audit also claims McCullers, who served as the museum’s bookkeeper, benefited from the transactions. The methods described in the audit claim McCullers used a variety of methods to embezzle funds, including, allegedly issuing herself additional paychecks, making personal charges on museum credit cards and distributing funds from museum accounts to her creditors. The creditors paid were identified as not having business with the museum. 

Many of the same methods discovered while auditing the museum’s finances were discovered during the audit surrounding the museum’s gift shop. McCullers allegedly used a variety of methods to divert funds.

Regarding the store, the audit stated McCullers would allegedly remove cash from store sales and use PayPal to issue electronic checks to herself, in addition to the other methods discovered in the museum audit.