Former N.C. EMS Employees Arrested for Embezzlement Totaling $148K

March 28--SNOW HILL -- Two Greene County women have been charged with felony embezzlement after the new director of Snow Hill Emergency Medical Services came on board and discovered all of the financial records were missing, Snow Hill Police Chief John Rea said.

Patsy Carraway Ransom, 59, of 113 N.W. Fourth St., Snow Hill, and Sue Ann Farmer, 51, of 4172 Ormondsville Road, Ayden, were arrested on Wednesday after warrants were taken out that day. Both women turned themselves in to the Greene County Magistrate Office with their attorneys, Rea said.

Both were in charge of the EMS unit separately," he said.

Farmer worked for the EMS squad from July 2011 until about October. When Richard Sudduth stepped into Farmer's position after she left, he could not find any financial statements or books, Rea said.

Because he was the director, Sudduth was able to obtain the most recent ones from the bank, Wells Fargo Bank in Snow Hill. But he could only obtain the records dating back to when Farmer began working as director.

Ransom worked for the EMS unit from June 2003 to June 2011.

Rea said Sudduth approached him in November and asked him to look into how to obtain the missing records.

"The SBI did a search warrant of the bank records when Ransom was in charge," Rea said. At that time, the bank had been Wachovia.

The police chief said it didn't take long to see that checks and debit cards had been used to purchase items not authorized by EMS.

Rea said he has completed his investigation with Farmer and found about $16,000 was embezzled during her term.

Currently, there is about $132,000 involved under Ransom's directorship, but there may be additional money missing, he said. The total believed taken so far is about $148,000.

"The majority of it was done on debit card," he said.

Both Ransom and Farmer also worked as part-time dispatchers, Greene County Sheriff Lemmie Smith said, adding Ransom had earlier been a full-time employee.

Smith said Ransom last had worked at ECU and Farmer last worked at Vidant Medical Center. He would call them in periodically to fill in for the full-time dispatchers, but they hadn't worked in the communications office since at least November, he said.

"They're not going to be working," Smith said, after being asked if they would be called back to the job.

Rea said once it was determined how the money had been spent, he began interviewing people in the community.

"I interviewed literally 100 people in four counties," he said.

Rea said he could not say for certain, at this time, whether the two had partnered together in taking the funds.

Ramsom was placed under a $40,000 secured bond, while Farmer's bail was $5,000. Both women have a first appearance in Greene County District Court on April 25.

Margaret Fisher can be reached at 252-559-1082 or Margaret.Fisher@Kinston.com. Follow her on Twitter @MargaretFishr.

Copyright 2014 - The Free Press, Kinston, N.C.