She faces two counts of aggravated theft, both third-degree felonies, for allegedly stealing at least $150,000 and not more than $750,000 between May 1, 2010, and May 31, 2015, according to the indictment by a Butler County grand jury.
The missing money came from the Ohio Deputy Registrar Association, according to Butler County Prosecutor Michael Gmoser. That organization filed a police report in Hamilton.
“The internal controls of the BMV would have caught it if were at the office,” Gmoser said. “That is good. But again we see a position of trust that has been abused.”
Davis was the treasurer of the association.
“It is OK to trust, but you have to verify,” Gmoser said.
The prosecutor said the amount allegedly stolen by Davis is “somewhere north of $150,000.”
Gmoser said investigators do know what Davis used the money for, but he declined to disclose more details.
The charge carries a possible prison sentence of one to five years.
The Hamilton office suddenly closed April 13 and reopened last month with a new deputy registrar and staff of employees at Hamilton Crossing plaza.
Davis resigned the day the office closed. She had been a deputy registrar since October 1992, and her current agency contract was set to expire in 2019, according to BMV spokeswoman Lindsey Bohrer.
At the time of the closing, Bohrer said there were administrative and operational issues at the agency that the BMV was there to address.
The Journal-News learned the issues that resulted in the closing of the office involved transactions for family members that violated BMV policies.
Hamilton police also began investigating allegations of embezzlement at that office in November. An unnamed person stole an unknown amount of money between Jan. 1, 2010, and Nov. 4, 2015, according to a police report that was filed by the Ohio Deputy Registrar Association.
Karen Anderson of Sandusky, who filed the complaint last December on behalf of the association, declined to comment on case when contacted Wednesday and referred all questions to Bohrer at the Ohio BMV.
The state contracts with deputy registrars to run independent offices throughout the state. Those locations provide drivers licenses, permits, and other services.
The case has been assigned to Butler County Common Pleas Judge Charles Pater. An arraignment date has not yet been set.
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