Theft charge shocks city employee’s colleagues

Several days a week, Patricia Regina Wilcurt bought soup or a sandwich at a deli near her office in Austell’s Threadmill complex. Sometimes she would sit in an easy chair near the register and talk to shop owner Connie Siegler.

Siegler was surprised when Wilcurt, a longtime Austell municipal court worker, was arrested last week and charged with taking $121,000 in court deposits since 2003.

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Patricia Wilcurt is being held in the Cobb County Jail on $150,000 bond.

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Employees of the court regularly produced two computer records of court fines and fees paid. One stayed at the court, the other accompanied deposits to City Hall. Wilcurt is accused of altering the records that accompanied the deposits and pocketing the cash.

She is being held in the Cobb County Jail on $150,000 bond. If convicted, she faces as long as 15 years in prison.

“We’re like a big, extended family here,” Siegler said. “This shows that you really don’t always know a person.”

Siegler said Wilcurt was a quiet woman who didn’t gossip and loved her family. Wilcurt lived in Carroll County with her husband, two daughters, ages 14 and 16, and a 20-year-old son.

Only one citizen has called the city to ask about the theft, but people are talking about it, said Austell Mayor Joe Jerkins. Cobb’s smallest city, with 7,000 residents, is a close-knit community.

Jerkins, in his 20th year as mayor, keeps up with the city’s 100 employees and mingles with them at annual Christmas parties. He noticed Wilcurt was distant at last month’s party.

“I was shocked and hurt to learn she had done this,” he said. “I had no idea something like this could happen here.”

Jerkins said the theft of city funds went undetected because small amounts were taken once or twice a month. He figures the city lost about $20,000 a year. A system of random audits did not catch the embezzlement until an auditor noticed a $2,400 discrepancy in October.

Austell’s municipal court took in approximately $700,000 in fines and fees last year.

The city has since set up a system of double-checks to guard against future thefts of court deposits.

City Clerk Carolyn Duncan, who was Wilcurt’s supervisor, didn’t think it was unusual when her employee volunteered to help with the investigation into the missing money. Wilcurt was a hard worker who was eager to try different jobs and was never late to work, Duncan said.

Wilcurt didn’t wear fancy clothes or jewelry and drove an older-model car, she said. A city employee since 1999, Wilcurt’s salary was about $28,000 a year.

After she was charged, Duncan said Wilcurt offered to repay $20,000 and asked if she could go back to work. She told city officials she used the money to pay bills.

“She was jolly and pleasant and didn’t seem to be desperate,” Duncan said. “I am sad for the city and her family. She has altered the rest of her life.”