Grand jury indicts Skaggs in another theft case

A Farmington woman charged in January with theft from a local pet adoption agency has been charged with stealing from another not-for-profit agency.

On Thursday, a grand jury indicted Lucretia Skaggs, 54, of Farmington, with an additional charge of felony stealing and felony fraudulent use of a credit device. Skaggs’ bond in this new case has been set at $35,000.

Skaggs allegedly did not act alone in this instance, but was assisted by Michael Jennings, 47, of Farmington, who had been charged in 2016 and pleaded guilty in 2017 to embezzling more than $100,000 from LIFE Center for Independent Living. Jennings is currently serving a 20-year sentence in the Missouri Department of Corrections.  

According to the indictment on this case, Skaggs, between June 1, 2015 and July 31, 2016, acting with another, stole at least $25,000 from LIFE Center where she was employed at the time.

In addition, during the same time and also acting with another, used a credit device, a Capital One Visa Card for the purpose of obtaining retail goods for her personal use in an amount of at least $500 and knowing the purchases were not authorized by the LIFE Center.

Skaggs was charged in January with stealing more than $150,000 from the Farmington Pet Adoption Center and was currently out on bond. The grand jury also indicted Skaggs on those charges from January on Thursday as well.

According to the probable cause statement by the St. Francois County Sheriff’s Department, Skaggs became involved with the Farmington Pet Adoption Center in 2005. She remained involved as board treasurer until October 2018 when she was released by the current board of directors.

The report states that an investigator with the sheriff’s department was contacted by the agency on Nov. 15 in reference to Skaggs, who was believed to have stolen money from FPAC accounts over the last several years.

Court documents state that documentation was provided to the sheriff’s department showing multiple online purchases made with Skaggs’ FPAC debit card over a three year period of time.

In addition, the document states that four individuals received payroll checks written on the FPAC account over a three year period. The individuals were interviewed and stated that they never worked for FPAC, but worked out of Skaggs’ home providing services directly to her.

According to the probable cause statement, Skaggs also created and solely operated a PayPal account for FPAC using an email of donations@farmingtonpet.org. Between Jan. 1, 2016 and Oct. 2018, Skaggs personally withdrew or spent $32,439 dollars out of the account that was fraudulently created for FPAC donations.

Court documents report that between fraudulent payroll checks, the fake PayPal account, and debit card purchases from years 2016, 2017, and 2018, Skaggs stole a total of $151,538.51 from the local animal shelter.

The report also states that the agency had to use attorneys to obtain the financial records from Skaggs and even then, were only able to obtain two months of records. Investigators were able to obtain deleted QuickBook files from Skaggs’ computer at Life Center Inc. that she had deleted just days prior to her termination from FPAC.

Matt McFarland is a reporter for the Daily Journal. He can be reached at 573-518-3616.