Former Pawnee Co. Jail Administrator Charged With Embezzlement, Stealing From Inmates

The former Pawnee County Jail administrator, John Thompson, is facing embezzlement charges after law enforcement said he was caught stealing cash from inmates.

Thompson turned himself into the Pawnee County Jail Tuesday afternoon. Law enforcement said they feel betrayed and shocked that'd he'd do something like this.

It's been particularly tough for people like Pawnee County Chief Deputy Nick Mahoney to grapple with.

“It’s a betrayal of the public trust, but to go even further than that, it’s a betrayal of his coworker and his friends trust. We believed in him," Mahoney said.

Assistant Pawnee County District Attorney Jeff Jones said Thompson faces two counts of embezzlement, totaling roughly $1,200 allegedly taken from inmates at the jail he was charged with running.

"We have to be above the criminals, and not be the criminals. And so, the sheriff took it very seriously," Jones said.

The DA's office started their investigation when an envelope of a prisoner's cash went missing. Prosecutors say Thompson was the last person to have contact with the money.

“John Paul said, I’ll find the money, I’ll find the money it’s out there someplace. It’s just gotten lost,” Mahoney said.

Mahoney said the next day, Thompson came back with an envelope of roughly $800 in cash, saying he'd found it.

“The problem with it was, the envelope was open, and the money inside was not the same money, the same denominations as it was when it came in,” Money said. “There were a lot of red flags there.”

An affidavit references an admitted 'money problem' and a recorded statement from Thompson admitting he took the envelope of money while on duty.

It said investigators also found $473 in a second envelope inside Thompson's patrol car and that Thompson believed he could pay it all back before anyone noticed.

A court date for Thompson hasn't been set. Thompson has since bonded out of jail.

The Sheriff's Office said it's installed new machines that count and catalogue inmate's money while watched by a camera, so something like this never happens again.