Jasper County employee accused of embezzling $17K pleads guilty

The former Jasper County employee who was accused of embezzling more than $17,000 pleaded guilty on Oct. 7 of first-degree theft and forgery, both charges of which are felonies. Shelby Hobbs, 31, of Newton, is scheduled to appear for her sentencing hearing on Nov. 25 at the Jasper County Courthouse.

According to the criminal complaints obtained by Newton News, Hobbs allegedly wrote 42 checks to herself over the span of 11 months. The checks were either cashed or deposited into her personal checking account. Authorities say banking records of the county zoning department and Hobbs were compared to confirm.

Hobbs made admissions to engaging in this conduct, authorities say.

Other criminal complaints against Hobbs say she utilized the Jasper County Community Development checkbook and signed the checks in the name of her supervisor — community development director Kevin Luetters — without his knowledge and without his permission.

Affidavits from Jasper County law enforcement allege Hobbs wrote checks for herself two to six times a month from August 2023 until June 2024. Individual checks ranged from as low as $95.42 to as high as $820. In a single month, the checks totaled between $680 to upwards of $2,417.

Jasper County Sheriff’s Office stated in a July 10 press release that the county attorney’s office requested law enforcement on June 26 to conduct a criminal investigation on a county employee who was suspected of misusing county funds. Investigators found $17,458.41 was utilized for unauthorized expenses.

Hobbs was arrested following the investigation and charged with first-degree theft (Class C felony) and 11 counts of forgery (Class D felony).

When Hobbs’s charges were first reported in July, Jasper County made a Facebook post saying the $17,458.41 that was allegedly stolen was not county property tax dollars but rather permit fees. County officials later met and changed policies and procedures to help ensure these incidents do not happen again.

Jasper County Attorney Scott Nicholson said, “At sentencing, I’m going to stand before the court and ask the court to order her to pay that amount of money as a term of her probation. Now whether the court defers judgement or convicts her will be up to the court. But I’m guessing that the judge is going to convict her of something.”