Appeals Court: Klebba must keep deputy circuit clerk's job

Theresa Klebba must remain a deputy clerk in Cole County's circuit clerk's office, the state appeals court in Kansas City ruled today.

Klebba has been on paid-leave for more than a year, after a panel of three judges from other Mid-Missouri counties ordered then-Circuit Clerk Brenda Umstattd to put Klebba back to work, and Umstattd immediately fired Klebba a second time.

The issue was missing money.

Umstattd first fired Klebba on July 1, 2011, saying an audit of Klebba's receipts showed $50.00 missing, and citing "other discrepancies regarding the courts [sic] money."

But Klebba appealed that termination, under a Supreme Court rule governing court system personnel issues, and the three-judge panel on Sept. 16, 2011, ordered her re-instated, with back pay.

When Klebba returned to work Sept. 26, Umstattd immediately gave her a second termination letter, which said "the reasons for the new dismissal are similar but distinctly separate from the reason for your previous dismissal."

Klebba sued.

And on Jan. 9, 2012, Special Judge Robert Schollmeyer, who is Osage County's associate circuit judge, ordered Umstattd to keep Klebba on the payroll.

Umstattd appealed, and a three-judge panel heard the oral arguments Nov. 8.

Meanwhile, Klebba remains on paid leave, while she faces a Cole County grand jury's criminal indictment issued Dec. 20, 2011, charging her with stealing at least $500 while working in the circuit clerk's office, from July 1, 2010-July 1, 2011.

Special Judge David C. Mobley, associate circuit judge in Ralls County, was assigned to hear the case, which is scheduled for a three-day trial in March.

Boone County Prosecutor Dan Knight is handling the case after Mark Richardson recused his staff because they work with the circuit clerk's office.