A 44-year-old Navasota resident bonded out of the Grimes County Jail Wednesday June 22nd where she had been residing since her arrest Friday June 17th on an enhanced charge of theft, due to the fact the Christian Community Services Center is a non-profit organization.
Meanwhile, the center and its patrons continue to reel after its former Treasurer Tracey Ashley was taken into custody by Navasota P.D., and charged with embezzling center funds.
The center’s Volunteer Director Pat Gaston tells Navasota News the Board of Directors was left in shocked silence last month when Ashley resigned after admitting she’d been stealing from them for years.
The center’s treasurers have always been in charge of the money and are the only ones who ever handle the books, Gaston explains, adding that a subsequent police investigation revealed Ashley embezzled a total $31,000.00
And this couldn’t come at a worse time, the director adds, because more people have been signing up for assistance. But Guaranty Title has stepped-up with an all-day food drive they’ll be holding in Navasota’s Walmart parking lot Thursday. Gaston says the center can certainly use anything you can spare.
If convicted, Ashley could spend up to 20-years behind bars and face up to $10,000 in fines.
