Callao City Clerk Indicted for Embezzlement

ST. LOUIS, MO—Lou Ann Allred was indicted for the embezzlement of approximately $150,000 of Callao City funds, Acting United States Attorney Michael W. Reap and Macon County Prosecuting Attorney R. Timothy Bickhaus announced today.

According to the indictment, as the long-time Callao City Clerk, Allred received cash payments for city services and instead of depositing those cash funds into Callao’s B & L Bank accounts, she embezzled the funds for her own personal purposes. Allred issued the city customers cash receipts, but did not deposit the money into the city’s B & L Bank accounts. The indictment alleges that on one or more occasions Allred wrote City of Callao checks to herself from the Callao B & L Bank accounts without the knowledge and authority of the City of Callao and forged the signature of the Callao Mayor on those unauthorized checks. She then either cashed those checks or deposited them into her own personal bank account. The total amount of money alleged in the indictment through Allred’s fraudulent conduct is approximately $150,000 from 2004 through 2008.

LOU ANN ALLRED, of Callao, Missouri, was indicted by a federal grand jury on one felony count of mail fraud.

If convicted, she faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison or a fine of up to $250,000.

Reap commended the work performed on the case by the Macon County Prosecuting Attorney, the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the Kirksville Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Assistant United States Attorney Hal Goldsmith, who is handling the case for the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The charges set forth in an indictment are merely accusations, and each defendant is presumed innocent until an unless proven guilty.