A former clerk supervisor in the Callaway County Court has turned herself in to the county sheriff following a warrant for her arrest on three felony charges of forgery Friday.
CCSO Lt. Clay Chism said that on the advice of her attorney, Lanet Bittle, 48, of Fulton, turned herself in to the Callaway County Sheriff's Office at 3:50 p.m. Friday. A warrant was issued for her arrest on three counts of felony forger related to the circuit clerk's office.
She is being processed on $10,000 bond.
The state auditor's office released an audit report Wednesday of the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit in Callaway County. It stated that receipts totaling at least $355 were received by the court but not deposited, and additional funds upwards of $11,292 "may be missing based upon voided cash receipts, unsupported non-monetary transactions and improper reduction or non-assessment of fines and court costs in the computerized case management system" between Jan. 1 and Sept. 13, 2012 and that Bittle had "inappropriately" issued a $149 check to a family member that the court did not identify for eight months.
Then-Presiding Judge Gary Oxenhandler requested the state audit when an internal review by the Office of State Courts Administrator found a number of the questionable transactions. She was placed on administrative leave Sept. 14, 2012, and terminated Oct. 6, 2012.
Chism told the Fulton Sun that an investigation is continuing and emphasized that she turned herself in.