ESCAMBIA COUNTY, Fla. — WEAR News follows the story of an Escambia County school employee facing multiple felony charges after investigators say the bookkeeper stole more than $50,000 from Ernest Ward Middle School.

The sheriff’s office says he is 41 years old Lindsey Kelley stole from more than a dozen departments in the school, and investigators have reason to believe the theft may go beyond that.

WEAR News spoke with school board members Friday who shared a history of accounting problems in Northwest Florida schools.

Escambia County school board members told WEAR News the case is in the hands of law enforcement and they hope through the courts that much, if not all, of that money can be recovered soon. But as WEAR News heard from the sheriff, that could be a tall order.

Escambia County School Board member David Williams told WEAR News it’s difficult to detect potential fraud in schools until it’s too late. Williams, a former school principal, says he is surprised to see the discrepancies drag on for more than a year without any action being taken.

According to the report, a 2022 audit revealed to the school district that Kelley’s “lack of organization led to several problems, the most serious of which was the inability to locate complete records for deposits and receipts.”

“Sometimes things fall through the cracks,” Williams said. “That’s what worries me, because we have audits and things to clean up, to go back and find deposit slips and make sure the checks and balances are cleared by the end of the school year.”

“I was lucky and had great accountants as a trustee and they kept me informed of any problems we had, we were able to correct them that year,” he said. “It wasn’t until two or three years later that we found out about the crime.”

Earlier this week, it was announced that a similar Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation was underway in Santa Rosa County.

Kelly Short resigned in late October after the school district said an investigation found he “engaged in financial irregularities.”

Santa Rosa County Schools says all purchases must be approved by the school or department administrator, and audits are conducted once a year by outside agencies.

While the FDLE says the investigation is active, Short is not currently facing charges.

In the past two years alone, WEAR News has covered at least half a dozen cases of accountants accused of stealing funds. Four of them were accountants at the school.

Speaking with Sheriff Chip Simmons this week, he also said it happened with the organizations he was involved with.

“Unfortunately, I’ve been around and seen things like this before,” Simmons said. “I used to run youth league ballparks, and every once in a while you have cash-strapped people who can’t count well or don’t count well on purpose, so money is missing. So you have to have a lot of internal controls. “

As for recovering the lost funds, Sheriff Simmons said it won’t be easy. But he says the sheriff’s office will pursue all avenues to repay the money, including questioning those who received money from Kelly.

In many cases, the sheriff said, a judge could order defendants like Lindsey Kelley to get their jobs back and garnish their wages until the debts are paid in full.

The sheriff said they are still looking to see if any other crimes have been committed.