NATCHEZ, Miss. — Mayor Dan Gibson said he and Natchez aldermen had nothing to do with the embezzlement charges getting dismissed recently against former city clerk Servia Fortenberry and her deputy.
The city treasury has recouped the nearly $23,000 Fortenberry and Sevetrius Dillon allegedly paid themselves without authorization, Gibson said, but it was Adams County District Attorney Shameca Collins’ decision to drop the criminal charges against the former municipal clerks. They resigned in 2021 before the financial irregularities were revealed.
The mayor did say Collins asked him if he had a preference for further pursuing the criminal charges against Fortenberry and Dillon. However, he noted city officials’ input in the case ended when they uncovered the alleged misspending in 2021 and reported it to the state auditor’s office. “Once we did that, we were done,” Gibson said Tuesday.
After the mayor reported “questionable” spending in November 2021, Fortenberry and Dillon were indicted last summer for embezzlement. State Auditor Shad White accused them of paying themselves from a city account without the Board of Aldermen’s approval.
However, it was revealed last week that the criminal charges against them were dismissed after the allegedly misspent funds were repaid to the city. The money was from surety bonds, a type of insurance that covers public employees and funds that are misused, according to Fletcher Freeman, a spokesman for the state auditor’s office.
Fortenberry was accused of improperly paying herself nearly $15,000 while Dillon got about $8,000.
The red-flagged expenditures came when Fortenberry resigned as city clerk in 2021 after serving two years as the city’s chief financial officer. She reportedly has said the money was owed to her for her work at City Hall.
While the state auditor’s office still stands by the embezzlement case made against the former clerk, Freeman said, the decision to drop the charges was the district attorney’s call.
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