Tearful admission caps day-two of $1.8M Lonna Carroll embezzlement trial
Former child protection worker recorded in surprise interview by South Dakota special agents
PIERRE – The second day of a $1.8 million embezzlement trial ended with jurors listening to an audio recording of the accused, former state employee Lonna Carroll, confessing to agents that she took the money.
The day moved like a symphony, starting slowly with the details of how auditors investigated the alleged thefts from the Department of Social Services, picking up tempo with photographs and detailed banking records from Carroll’s personal bank account, before ending with the approximately one hour and 20-minute recording and the crescendo of her tearful admission and immediate arrest.
Carroll is accused of embezzling the money from 2010 to 2023 while working as a program assistant for Child Protection Services. One of her roles involved overseeing bank accounts set up for individual foster children to safe harbor money they might get, including through Social Security, TANF and child support payments.
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