Former Hospital Employee Indicted For Embezzlement
PROTECTED CONTENT
If you’re a current subscriber, log in below. If you would like to subscribe, please click the subscribe tab above.
Username and Password Help
Please enter your email and we will send your username and password to you.
Melissa Cook
WATER VALLEY – Auditor Shad White reported special agents from his office arrested Melissa Cook on Thursday, Dec. 8. Cook, a former accounts receivable clerk, was indicted on Dec. 1 by a grand jury in the Second Judicial District in Water Valley for embezzlement from Yalobusha General Hospital, a publicly owned hospital where she was previously employed.
White reported that special agents delivered a $102,089.74 demand letter to Cook upon her arrest. The demand letter includes interest and investigative expenses. Cook is accused of embezzling approximately $65,000 from in-patient care payments from the hospital by not depositing cash payments made to the hospital from March, 2018, to August, 2020. She is alleged to have converted the cash to her own person use and deposited large sums into her own bank account.
“We will continue to hold the line when it comes to embezzlement, whether it’s a large amount like this or a small amount,” said Auditor White. ““While we are not allowed to decide when a person faces criminal charges at the end of our cases—prosecutors do that—we’re always grateful for their help when we can work together.”
If convicted, Cook faces up to 20 years in prison or up to $25,000 in fines. All persons arrested by the Mississippi Office of the State Auditor are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
A $50,000 surety bond covers Cook’s employment at the Yalobusha General Hospital. Surety bonds are similar to insurance designed to protect taxpayers from corruption. Cook will remain liable for the full amount of the demand in addition to criminal proceedings.
Cook is the second former hospital employee to be indicted for embezzlement. Katie Rotenbery Brown was indicted on September 30, 2021, for allegedly stealing $72,632.79 from Yalobusha General Hospital. Auditor Shad White reported last year that the allegations against Brown are for issuing and cashing checks addressed to multiple hospital employees. Hospital employees filed a complaint at the Auditor’s office after accounting discrepancies were identified.
A trial date was originally scheduled for Brown on April 11, 2022. The trial has been postponed twice. Brown’s attorney, Rhea Tannehill, Jr. initially was granted a continuance in March after requesting additional time to analyze financial records from the state auditor’s office. A second continuance was granted in August after Tannehill requested an extension for additional discovery regarding restitution. Brown is due in court Friday, Dec. 15, to enter a plea.
