McCall Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Tracey Smith was arrested last Thursday and charged with two felony counts of grand theft after police said she stole about $8,500 from the chamber's bank account.
In an interview, Smith said she was innocent of the charges and blamed lack of oversight by the chamber board of directors for setting up the circumstances that led to her arrest.
Smith, 44, was arrested at her home in McCall last Thursday afternoon, according to police. She had worked for the chamber since May 2003 and has been fired as a result of the charges.
She spent Thursday night in the Valley County jail and was arraigned Friday by Valley County Magistrate Hank Boomer.
She posted $10,000 bond and is set for a preliminary hearing on Tuesday.
Bank withdrawals found
According to an affidavit form filled out by McCall Police Officer Lance Rogers, Smith stole about $8,500 from the chamber's bank account over the last year through automatic withdrawals to make payments "that appeared to pay for Smith's personal bills."
The withdrawals were used to pay three companies: Cellular One Phone Service, Chrysler Financial Services and Dish Network.
The withdrawals ranged in amount from $177.24 to Cellular One on Sept. 7 to $638.29 to Chrysler Financial on July 6, according to the report.
The withdrawals cited in the report begin in November of 2003 with a $588 payment to Chrysler Financial. The most recent withdrawal was the Sept. 7 payment to Cellular One.
The payments include 17 to Chrysler Financial, four to Cellular One, and one to Dish Network. Withdrawals were made from November 2003 through May 2004, as well as July, August and September of 2004.
"The total so far uncovered is approximately $8,504.73," Rogers wrote in the report.
Police got involved after the chamber's board of directors found the automatic withdrawals from the group's checking account, according to the report.
Chamber President Mary Naylor, who works for Brundage Mountain Resort, told Rogers the chamber did not authorize any of the payments, the report said.
When she was interviewed by police, Smith said she made a mistake in May of 2004 when she gave Chrysler Financial the wrong payment information because she had a chamber deposit slip in her checkbook, according to the report.
When the mistake was brought to her attention by a chamber board member, she said she would fix the error but never did, Smith told police.
Smith also said she set up a business account with Cellular One and used the chamber as the account's name, but used the phone for personal business, the report says.
On Monday, McCall Police Chief Ralph Appa said the investigation is continuing and that more charges are possible. He declined to release any more information.
Smith claims innocence
In an interview, Smith said the bank statements have always been open to inspection by the board and that she had nothing to hide.
"I was responsible for all aspects of the business of the chamber and now they are questioning how some of the financial decisions were made," she said.
The cellphone expenses were legitimate since the majority of the calls made on it were for chamber business, she said.
She had intended to reimburse the chamber for her car payments based on a calculation of miles used for chamber business, but said she "never had time to figure it out."
Smith said the chamber's finances were in shambles when she took over and that she managed to nearly wipe out a $43,000 deficit and increase membership from 182 to 277.
"The chamber has operated on very casual record-keeping for years, which I have been trying to rectify," she said.
There is no formal oversight by the chamber board of finances, and Smith said she did not have time to draft monthly financial reports.
"It was no one's fault,' she said. "We were so far in debt that we did not have the funds available to pay for enough staff support."
Smith said she used her own money to buy much of the office equipment and furnishings in the chamber office located in Village Square East.
She will seek the return of those items, which she said included a microwave oven, refrigerator, coffee maker, fax machine and three computer printers.
Smith is so confident that she will be cleared of the charges that she has started a new business called the Greater McCall Merchants Alliance.
The membership-based business will do online promotion of area businesses for travelers, conventions and relocation, she said. Membership fees are $10 per month for nonprofit or home-based businesses and $20 per month for all other businesses.
Chamber to 'move forward'
On Tuesday, Naylor said the chamber is looking to move forward after Smith's arrest.
"Obviously we are very, very disappointed in this turn of events," Naylor said. "But the members of our community have been very supportive and encouraging."
Naylor declined to comment on the circumstances that led to Smith's arrest, but said chamber officials are reviewing the group's records and procedures to find what tweaks need to be made.
Any decision on hiring a new executive director will be made once the chamber has finished its own internal review, she said.
A general membership meeting of the chamber is scheduled for noon Monday, Dec. 6, at Steamers restaurant in downtown McCall.
