A former Pettis County Sheriff’s Office employee has been charged with stealing money from the organization.
Ben E. Banner, 54, of Green Ridge, has been charged with forgery and receiving stolen property after he was arrested Thursday by Johnson County Sheriff’s Office deputies.
Banner previously served as the Pettis County Deputy Coroner and for the sheriff’s office handling concealed carry weapon permits, both part-time positions within the county. He was terminated in August 2016 by Pettis County Sheriff Kevin Bond for “unacceptable job performance,” court documents state.
According to a news release, a Johnson County Sheriff’s Office detective was requested to investigate a large sum of missing money from the Pettis County Sheriff’s Office account last week. Both office reports and an independent audit of the account showed $22,925 in cash was missing, which had been taken in as payments for CCW permits issued by the office, according to court documents.
During the changeover from Banner to the new person in charge of CCW permits, a current sheriff’s deputy, the new deputy found information indicating some cash was missing or unaccounted for in the deposit records for the CCW program, documents state. The independent audit showed the account was balanced and consistent with deposits in the months following Banner’s departure.
According to court documents, the audit showed $55,350 in cash and checks was taken by Banner as payment for CCW permits between January and August 2016, but only $32,425 was deposited into the sheriff’s office banking account. The detective found Banner only issued written receipts for a handful of the 182 permits issued or renewed in March 2016.
The detective then contacted several people who had gotten or renewed a permit in March 2016, and several of them told the detective they paid in cash as instructed by Banner. Pettis County citizens have the option to pay by cash, check or money order.
In addition to the theft accusations, Banner also allegedly forged the new deputy’s signature on his own CCW permit renewal form. According to court documents, Banner’s CCW application from 2013 includes his signature and a witness signature from the deputy, which she confirmed.
His 2016 renewal form includes those same two signatures, but the female deputy got married during that three-year time period. The renewal signature used her maiden name, which she no longer uses. She denies signing Banner’s renewal form.
Banner was interviewed by the detective Thursday and said he had no knowledge of any missing money. Court documents state he said the only difference in money taken in and what the data showed was due to his not charging law enforcement or first responders for permits, which was not approved by Bond. However, that amount of money is not consistent with the missing $22,925. According to the Pettis County Sheriff’s Office website, a new permit costs $100 and a renewal costs $50.
Banner also said he had no knowledge of what happened to the money after he put it in a bank bag, attempting to elude that the new deputy may have been responsible. Court documents state she was on maternity leave for two of the months when money is unaccounted for.
Banner very publicly voiced his opposition against his former boss, Coroner Skip Smith, during Smith’s re-election campaign in 2016, posting videos and long status updates on Facebook in the week prior to the election.
He also was in attendance at several Green Ridge R-VIII School District Board of Education meetings during the theft investigation into former Superintendent Cara Easter around the same time in 2016. Banner’s main concerns were the board’s handling of the district’s finances, he told the Democrat at an August meeting.
Banner ran for the school board during the April 2016 municipal election, but only received 7.95 percent of the vote.
Banner has been issued a $23,000 cash-only bond and remains at the Pettis County Jail. An arraignment took place Friday morning at the Pettis County Courthouse.
