Amanda Carol CunninghamA Dalton woman was arrested this week for allegedly stealing $85,000 from the Northwest Georgia Family Crisis Center.
The Dalton Police Department reported that 42-year-old Amanda Carol Cunningham used a company credit card to buy gift cards. Cunningham was the center's assistant director and was fired in late April.
The crisis center is a nonprofit that provides temporary shelter, care and referral assistance to people in abusive situations, among other things.
Bruce Fraizer, spokesperson for the city of Dalton, said the staff at the crisis center noticed some irregularities on its Kroger credit card account. After looking into it, the staff determined that several transactions for thousands of dollars had been made without authorization.
"At this point, from what we've been able to determine, it looks like Ms. Cunningham had one of the cards on the account and has been using it to purchase gift cards," Fraizer said in an email Friday morning. "At this point it looks like the total amount of these purchases is in the range of approximately $85,000. This activity took place from last fall in October 2020 until being detected in April 2021."
The organization's attorney, Kenneth Mishoe, sent the Times Free Press a statement from the board of directors.
"The board of directors has provided oversight and direction throughout this matter," Mishoe said in the statement. "The Northwest Georgia Family Crisis Center has been serving domestic violence victims in our community for over 42 years. It provides much-needed emergency shelter and outreach services to help victims feel safe and live a life free from violence. While the board cannot provide further comment on this matter during the ongoing investigation, our community can be assured that the Crisis Center will continue its important mission of advocating for domestic violence victims and their children."
Fraizer said Cunningham was arrested on May 19 with the charge of felony theft. The case is still open.
Contact Patrick Filbin at pfilbin@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6476. Follow him on Twitter @PatrickFilbin.