Former Maumee court clerk admits to stealing funds

1/3/2018

Attorney Bruce Boerst, left, talks with his client Jane Monroe after she pleaded guilty to theft in office and tampering with records, both of which are third-degree felonies, before Judge Michael Goulding Wednesday at Lucas County Common Pleas Court in downtown Toledo. Monroe, a former deputy clerk in Maumee Municipal Court, admitted in court Wednesday that she stole more than $31,000 from the court. She will be sentenced at a later time.

The Blade/Katie Rausch
Buy This Image

A longtime deputy clerk in Maumee Municipal Court admitted Wednesday that she stole more than $31,000 from her former employer.

Jane Monroe, 55, of Maumee pleaded guilty to theft in office and tampering with records, both third-degree felonies, before Lucas County Common Pleas Judge Michael Goulding.

The judge told her she faces up to six years in prison when she is sentenced Feb. 16.

Though Monroe made no statements in court about what she did or why, prosecutors said previously that she wrote six checks to herself from the court totaling $25,100 between Aug. 11 and Sept. 20. She also stole cash that had been paid by customers to the court.

Khaled Elwardany, an assistant county prosecutor, told that court that as part of a plea agreement, Monroe is to pay $31,125 in restitution to the city of Maumee. He also said he would be asking that six counts of forgery be dismissed at the time of sentencing.

Monroe, who had worked for the court since 1989, retired Oct. 1, just days before her criminal indictment. Prosecutors said she had gotten caught up in an Internet scam, although her attorney, Bruce Boerst, declined to comment afterward on the motive for the theft.

“She accepts full responsibility for her actions and is regretful and apologetic,” he said.

The theft case was cited as a possible factor in the recent defeat of longtime Maumee Municipal Court Judge Gary Byers.

Maumee City Councilman and lawyer Dan Hazard successfully challenged the judge in November with promises to tighten the court's belt. With Monroe's indictment coming during the height of the campaign, Judge Byers was criticized by some for using a private, local law firm to conduct an audit of the court rather than relying on the Auditor of State's Fraud Division, which Maumee City Council hired to perform an audit.

The private audit was expected to cost nearly five times more than the city's audit.