Two arrested in separate embezzlement cases

PTO president, casino hotel clerk are charged

By KAREN NELSON - klnelson@sunherald.com

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Two Coast women were arrested this week on embezzlement charges — one a PTO president from a rural community in northeast Jackson County and the other a casino hotel desk clerk in Biloxi.

Michelle Thomas Richardson, president of the PTO for East Central Upper Elementary in Hurley was arrested and charged with taking more than $3,000 from the Parent Teacher Organization’s account.

Jackson County Sheriff’s investigators arrested Richardson, 35, on a charge of embezzlement on Wednesday. She posted a $2,500 bond and was released from jail on Thursday.

The charge stems from the investigation into a fellow PTO member’s complaint that money was missing from the account.

As president, Richardson had control of the account during the two years in which money came up missing, Jackson County Sheriff Mike Byrd said on Thursday.

Investigators executed a search warrant of her home in the 14100 block of Timber Ridge Road in Big Point and seized several computers.

The computers will be sent off to be analyzed for forensic evidence in the ongoing investigation, Byrd said.

“She is without a doubt the prime suspect in this case,” he said. “There are no other suspects at this time.”

Then in Biloxi, police arrested Lea Rasan Averhart Fox, 27, a former Imperial Palace hotel desk clerk, and charged her with felony embezzlement by creating fraudulent refunds and comps for unsuspecting guests who paid in cash.

Biloxi police investigators arrested Fox as the result of a joint investigation with the Imperial Palace Casino Security Department.

Police said Thursday the investigation revealed that Fox, who lives in the 1600 block of Hollywood Boulevard in Biloxi, had been generating fraudulent receipts to show that the guests had either been refunded their security deposit when they had not, or that the guest’s hotel stay had been comped against a player’s club account not associated with the guest.

Biloxi police said Fox used these techniques to take the cash in each instance for a total of a $10,030 loss to the casino.

Fox was arrested Wednesday and was taken to the Harrison County Adult Detention Center.

She posted a $25,000 bond, set by the county Justice Court, and was released on Thursday.