The former clerk-treasurer for the City of Morton is now facing a federal wire fraud charge in connection with her nine-year scheme to steal nearly $1 million from city coffers, Acting U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller announced Wednesday.
Wire fraud is punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
An investigation into Tamara “Tammy” Clevenger began after a 2024 audit by the Washington State Auditor’s Office uncovered nearly a decade of embezzlement totaling $937,584.
Clevenger started in her position in 2012 and resigned shortly after the Morton City Council passed an ordinance separating the clerk and treasurer positions in 2022, according to the City of Morton.
The auditor’s office reportedly contacted the city’s new clerk, LuAnn Ward, in September 2022 during a scheduled audit “and advised her that the financial records did not balance,” according to an August 2024 Morton news release.
Ward reportedly put over 800 hours of her time into gathering information and evidence for the state auditor’s office’s investigation, which was completed in May 2024, according to the news release.
“Based on the information and evidence, it is believed that former clerk-treasurer Tammy Clevenger stole this money from the city and its citizens,” the City of Morton said in the August 2024 news release.
At the time, the City of Morton stated it intended to pursue all legal options to ensure Clevenger was “prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”
Clevenger is expected to enter a plea to the wire fraud charge next month, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
“I commend the State Auditor’s Office for their good work on this case,” Miller said. “It is critical that all of our government entities have multiple safeguards in place to prevent the theft of hard-earned taxpayer dollars.”
According to the charging information, Clevenger allegedly used a variety of ways to steal funds. Between November 2015 and December 2021, she allegedly stole at least $311,727 of cash that citizens had brought in to pay for city services. In some instances, the U.S. Attorney’s Office stated, she would write a check from one city account to another to conceal the theft of the cash. She also made unauthorized cash withdrawals with the Morton ATM card.
Between February 2013 and December 2021, Clevenger allegedly stole at least $625,857 by writing checks to herself and depositing them in her bank account. Clevenger would allegedly use checks that had been pre-signed by the mayor for use in emergency situations. Clevenger allegedly used fake vendor invoices to make it appear the checks had been written for a service rendered to the city. Clevenger’s actions used interstate wires to commit the fraud with the transfer of funds between various bank accounts. One example is the transfer of $5,808 in funds from Washington to Umpqua bank servers located outside the state.
Following the audit, the City of Morton established new procedures so that no single person had control of the various banking functions.
“The city will continue to do what is necessary to protect our community, keep the community’s
trust and ensure this does not happen again,” the City of Morton said in the August 2024 news release. “The city will strive to implement any recommendations received from the state auditor’s office to strengthen the city’s processes.”
The state auditor’s office will follow up on the City of Morton’s internal controls and processes during its next audit, according to previous Chronicle reporting.
The FBI and IRS worked with the Washington State Auditor’s Office on the criminal financial investigation.
“The charges contained in the information are only allegations. A person is presumed innocent unless and until he or she is proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. However, use of a criminal information, the sworn statement of the prosecutor, is an indication that there have been discussions with the defendant and their counsel of an agreement to resolve the case,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office stated in a news release.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda McDowell.
Clevenger is the second former City of Morton official to be charged within the last year for financial fraud committed during their employment in Morton.
Former Morton Police Chief Roger Morningstar was charged Dec. 18, 2024,in Lewis County Superior Court with two counts of second-degree identity theft and one count each of third-degree theft and abuse of office for allegedly using a city credit card to make unauthorized personal purchases between June 19, 2022, and June 10, 2023.
Morningstar has pleaded not guilty to all charges, and trial is scheduled to begin on May 6, with a trial confirmation hearing scheduled for 9:40 a.m. on Thursday, May 1.
Morningstar, who was hired as Morton’s police chief in 2016, resigned from the Morton Police Department in lieu of termination on June 2, 2023, after he failed a polygraph exam related to an internal investigation into complaints of sexual harassment, misused public funds and untruthful statements on his application to the department.
Before his resignation, he had been on administrative leave since the City of Morton opened its internal investigation on May 15, 2023.
The Washington state Criminal Justice Training Commission revoked Morningstar’s peace officer certification on Dec. 6, 2023, after he failed to request a hearing to defend against the allegations.
