JENKINSVILLE — A State Law Enforcement Division investigation into the conduct of the Jenkinsville Water Company has been closed and the findings resulted in criminal charges being found against JWC employees and JWC board members.

The investigation was opened in December 2011 into the circumstances surrounding a 2010 audit that showed a $32,327 shortage of monies that were collected versus those deposited. During the investigation, SLED conducted interviews of Kisha Chaplin and Yvette Feaster, the two JWC employees who collected money in 2010, as well as company president Gregory Ginyard.

Feaster reported knowing records were inaccurate but not knowing why that was so. After a lie detector test, Feaster admitted to taking a small amount of cash ($400) from the company in small increments and paying most of it back later. She gave a written statement that when she resigned the company she still owed $100 of the money she had taken.

Chaplin told investigators that “there was no system of checks and balances in place at the JWC when it came to handling money,”according to the SLED report.

According to the SLED report, Chaplin said she usually took deposits to the bank but sometimes that duty fell to Ginyard. Chaplin was given a lie detector test as part of the investigation and the test showed signs of deception when she was asked directly if she took any money from the company, the report stated. She repeatedly denied stealing.

Ginyard also was given a polygraph test during the investigation but the results were inconclusive when he was asked directly if he stole money from the company. According to the report, Ginyard said he never stole any money from the JWC and that he “never saw anyone else do anything improper while employed at JWC.”

The SLED investigation turned to Yvette Jones, the accountant JWC hired to handle its finances in 2011, and she said that in her opinion there were no accounting procedures in place prior to 2011 that could allow anyone to determine what money had gone missing even if a forensic audit were conducted.

According to the SLED report, Jones said the money could be “stolen, an accounting error, or some combination of both.”

In August 2012, Sixth Circuit Solicitor Doug Barfield reviewed the facts of the case and determined that no criminal charges would be filed.

When questioned about the case and investigation at the JWC annual meeting, Ginyard replied that a SLED investigation and an IRS audit resolved the issue of cash being unaccounted for. Jones said she spoke with the IRS and learned there was nothing fraudulent found with the errors in record keeping.