A 12-year Newberry County employee has been accused of taking at least $20,000 in Social Security checks.

Tina Clinton, 35, of 14726 C. R. Koon Highway, Newberry, was arrested and charged yesterday with breach of trust over $5,000 by Newberry police.

Clinton worked, her employment has been terminated amidst the allegations, in the accounting office at Springfield Place and J.F. Hawkins Continuing Care Retirement Community, which is owned by the county. She had the title of accounts receivable coordinator.

Monday, nursing home Chief Financial Officer Glenn Wicker asked Newberry police to begin an investigation into what he and other county officials considered “irregularities in the depositing of checks,“ according to a press release issued on the matter.

The nursing home facility receives checks on behalf of patients from both Medicaid and Social Security. Social Security checks may be legally transferred to a nursing home when government programs, such as Medicaid, fall short of paying the resident’s full charges.

In the case against Clinton, she was allegedly cashing predominantly Social Security checks made jointly payable to residents of the facility and J.F. Hawkins and Springfield Place, then using the money for her personal gain.

“The way this thing was crafted, detection would have been difficult,“ said Wicker.

In fact, alarm bells were triggered only when a bank teller called the nursing home to let Clinton know too much cash had accidentally been dispensed when Clinton was cashing one of the checks around Christmas.

Annual auditing by the county did not pick up on the missing money at the county facility, which has faced cash shortfalls and troubled financial issues.

“She was the longest serving member of our finance team,“ said J.F. Hawkins-Springfield Place Interim Administrator Geri Gambill. “All we can say right now is, we’re in shock.“

After questioning the bank about the cashing of the checks, nursing home officials informed County Administrator Wayne Adams and the police about the irregularities this week.

Today, an outside accounting firm will begin the process of determining exactly how much money was taken and over what period of time.

But Adams says he believes the amount will be in excess of $20,000.

“The accounting firm will also recommend enhanced procedures for preventing future incidents of this kind,“ said Adams.

Newberry Police Captain Chuck Counts says once the scope of the embezzlement is known through the audit, his department and the Eighth Circuit Solicitor’s Office will determine if any federal charges will be levied and if the case needs to be turned over to federal authorities.

Clinton was interviewed by Counts Wednesday. After warrants were signed against her, Clinton turned herself over to police yesterday afternoon. She was later released from jail on a $10,000 surety bond.