Ex-clerk sentenced to 10 years in prison

FRANKFORT, Ky. - A former western Kentucky clerk has been sentenced to 10 years in prison and ordered to pay $75,000 in restitution for her guilty plea to theft of city funds.

Attorney General Jack Conway says an audit in January 2011 led to the conviction of former Corydon Sewer Clerk Melissa Clark. Conway says the state Auditor's Office revealed tens of thousands of dollars in receipts had not been deposited into the city of Corydon's bank accounts.

Investigators determined that Clark was writing checks to petty cash, or to herself, and then depositing the cash into her personal bank account. Conway says on several occasions, Clark wrote checks from the City Sewer Account to pay for personal items she ordered out of a gift and home goods catalog.