BY JANE PRENDERGAST
The Cincinnati Enquirer
COVINGTON -- A woman is accused of stealing more than $40,000 from the Northern Kentucky Electric Authority and transferring it to her own business. Deborah J. Maskey admitted to Kentucky State Police Detective Rodney Ballard that she took money from the agency and used it to run her secretarial business, Administrative Edge, according to court records. She had access to the authority's money because she was hired to handle its accounts.
Between November 1996 and January of this year, she repeatedly wrote checks out of the authority's account and made them payable to the business, Detective Ballard's affidavit said.
Ms. Maskey, 48, of East Covered Bridge Drive in Elsmere, is charged with theft by unlawful taking, a felony. She has been summoned to appear in court July 7. She was not arrested.
Officials of the authority, which oversees the licensing of electricians, learned of the missing money after they talked at a board meeting about buying some certificates of deposit. Ms. Maskey knew the money needed to buy them was no longer in the account, Detective Ballard said, and she told board members what she had done.
Ms. Maskey could be sentenced to five years in prison.
