Former County Employee Allegedly Used County Fuel Card For Personal Purchases Over Two Year Period
-
Dalton Brent Ball Photo courtesy of WCSO.
Dalton Brent Ball, a 23-year-old Cordell man, could spend five years in prison after being charged with felony embezzlement last week. Ball is accused of using a Washita County fuel card to purchase fuel for his personal vehicle on multiple occasions for a total of nearly $3,000 between June 2017 and April 2019.
According to the affidavit of probable cause filed in the case, Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Troy Morris was dispatched to Cordell on May 2, 2019, to investigate suspicious fuel charges discovered by Washita County Clerk Kristen Dowell and subsequently reported to District Attorney Angela Marsee. Dowell told Morris she had noticed transactions on Ball’s county-issued fuel card that occurred after work hours.
During the course of Morris’ investigation, Ball admitted to using his county card multilple times to fuel his personal vehicle after hours, Morris reported.
“Through OSBI investigation, Ball confessed to making the fuel charges after he began experiencing financial problems,” Morris wrote. “He used his county fuel card to purchase gas at the Farmer’s Co-operative in Cordell, Washita County, Oklahoma. Ball filled up his personal truck just after leaving from work at 1700 hours on various work days.
“Ball admitted that any charges made with his county fuel card after 1700 hours was for personal use. Ball was unsure of the exact number of times he had illegally purchased the fuel, but he believed it was less than 100 times. Billing documents provided by the Washita County Clerk indicated Ball used his assigned fuel card 59 times after 1700 hours during his employment. The total cost of the fuel embezzled was $2,843.80.”
Ball turned himself in at the Washita County Justice Center Thursday, Aug. 22, 2019. If convicted, he could be sentenced to up to five years in prison and/ or a fine of up to $5,000, plus restitution.
bob henline can be reached at