By Jim Hannah and Patrick Crowley
The Cincinnati Enquirer

BURLINGTON - The suspended Florence finance director's estranged wife is living in an $650,000 home purchased using what a Boone County prosecutor said was taxpayers' money stolen from Florence city coffers.

Commonwealth's Attorney Linda Tally Smith emerged from an hours-long meeting with FBI agents and state police Thursday to say Ronald J. Epling provided the funds for "substantial cash down payments" on the home at 1014 Reigh Count Drive. She said the home, in the Northern Kentucky golf course community of Triple Crown in Richwood, was obtained with "ill-gotten gains for Florence."

Ms. Smith said Mr. Epling, hired as Florence's first finance director 15 years ago, has confessed to stealing more than $1 million from the city.

Mr. Epling's wife, Billie Kay Epling, who separated from Mr. Epling Dec. 26, 1999, has not been named as a suspect. Law enforcement officials close to the investigation, however, said they want to question her about large sums of money flowing into her household.

Ms. Smith would not confirm that Ms. Epling is a target of any investigation.

Ms. Epling refused to comment when reached by phone twice at the Reigh Count Drive home and once at her business over the past week. Courthouse officials say she has hired a lawyer, but the attorney's name is not known.

Mr. Epling lived in a $200,000 home at 322 Oakwoodpark Drive in Delhi Township, listed in his girlfriend's name, until his arrest Monday. The 51-year-old Pike County native is being held on a single count of felony theft involving a $125,000 city of Florence check deposited in a Fifth Third Bank account under his control.

Mr. Epling, Ms. Smith said, opened the account in 1988, a year after being hired by the city. Ms. Smith said additional state charges are pending.

Stephenie Steitzer contributed.

E-mail jhannah@enquirer.com