ESCAMBIA COUNTY, Fla. — WEAR News is following up on the news that an Escambia County school employee faces several felony charges after investigators say the accountant stole more than $50,000 from the high school Ernest Ward.

The sheriff’s office says he is 41 years old. Lindsey Kelley robbed more than a dozen departments at the school, and investigators have reason to believe the theft may go deeper than that.

WEAR News spoke with school board members on Friday, who shared a story of problems with accountants in Northwest Florida schools.

Escambia County school board members told WEAR News that the case is in the hands of authorities and they hope that through the courts much, if not all, of this money can be recovered soon. But as WEAR News heard from the sheriff, that could be a tall order.

David Williams, a member of the Escambia County school board, told WEAR News that it is difficult to detect potential fraud in schools until it is too late. Williams, a former school principal, says he is surprised to see the discrepancies go on for more than a year without any action being taken.

According to the report, a 2022 audit revealed to the school district that Kelley’s “lack of organization led to several problems, the most serious of which was the inability to locate complete records of deposits and receipts.”

“Sometimes things go unnoticed,” Williams said. “I’m worried about this going on this long, because we have audits and things to clean up, and go back and find deposit receipts, and make sure the checks and balances are in place for the end of the school year.”

“I was fortunate and had great accountants as a manager, and they kept me aware of any issues we might have had that we were able to correct that year,” he said. “It wasn’t until two or three years later that we discovered the violation.”

Earlier this week, it was announced that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement was conducting a similar investigation in Santa Rosa County.

Kelly Short she resigned in late October after the school district said an investigation found she “engaged in financial irregularities.”

Santa Rosa County Schools says all purchases must be approved by the school or department administrator, and outside agencies conduct audits once a year.

While the FDLE says the investigation is active, Short is not currently facing any charges.

In the past two years alone, WEAR News has covered at least half a dozen cases of accountants accused of stealing funds. Four of them were school accountants.

Speaking with Sheriff Chip Simmons this week, he also says it’s happened to organizations he’s been involved with.

“Unfortunately, I’ve been here and seen things like this before,” Simmons said. “I used to run youth league ballparks and from time to time you have people dealing with cash that they can’t count well or intentionally don’t count well, so money is missing. So you have to have a lot of internal controls “

As for recovering the lost funds, Sheriff Simmons said it won’t be easy. But he says the sheriff’s office will pursue all avenues to return the money, including questioning those who received money from Kelly.

In many cases, the sheriff said a judge could order defendants like Lindsey Kelley to regain employment and garnish their wages until debts are paid in full.

The sheriff said they are still investigating whether more crimes were committed.