Judge: Carroll to be tried in alleged $1.7M theft

FORT PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) — A circuit judge has denied a motion to dismiss charges against a former state government employee accused of stealing more than $1.7 million from the South Dakota Department of Social Services.

Lonna Carroll allegedly took the money over the course of 12 years from the state Office of Child Protection Services.

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The South Dakota Office of Attorney General contends that Carroll was allowed to both submit requests and approve them, then transferred funds to her personal account.

Her attorney, Timothy Whalen, puts the blame on the department however, arguing in court on Monday that someone should have stopped her.

“I’m not saying she’s a saint,” Whalen said.

Whalen based his dismissal motion on the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in United States v Lovasco and the South Dakota Supreme Court’s decision in State v. Stock, arguing that delaying indictment was intentional and gave prosecutors a tactical advantage.

Circuit Judge Christine Klinger however ruled that Whalen hadn’t presented evidence on Monday supporting those claims.

Whalen brought in three witnesses.

— Merlin Weyer, who as associate director supervised Carroll from 2010 when the thefts allegedly began through his June 2018 retirement. Weyer, who worked 43 years in the department, repeatedly answered questions saying that he didn’t know.

— Connie Watts, an employee in the department’s finance section who was hired in October 2022 and found evidence of the thefts in October 2023. She reported them to her supervisor later that year.

— Logan Aukes, a CPA hired by the defense to review the department’s internal control structure. He concluded from his examination that the FACIS system for logging requests was poorly designed and supervisors gave weak attention to monitoring employees, leading to a “highly elevated” risk of fraud.

But state Attorney General Marty Jackley asked Aukes whether he came across any information indicating that the department had knowledge of Carroll’s alleged crimes prior to Watts’ discovery in October. Replied Aukes, “I don’t have any evidence they knew about it before that date.”

State prosecutors called one witness, Matthew Glenn, a supervisory special agent in the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation.

Glenn said DCI received information from the department in February 2024, conducted an investigation and took the case to a grand jury, which issued indictments against Carroll in July 2024.

A pre-trial meeting will be held on Wednesday. Her trial is scheduled to begin on April 1.