Former Tripp finance officer gets three years for embezzlement

The Daily Republic

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OLIVET — The city of Tripp’s former finance officer was sentenced Monday morning to three years in prison for embezzling more than half a million dollars between 2011 and 2018.

Jennifer Friederich will be parole eligible for the offense after serving 25 percent of her sentence, and Judge Patrick Smith said at sentencing he didn’t expect her to be denied parole at that time considering her three convictions were for nonviolent offenses and she has no prior criminal history.

Springfield government balanced budget, implemented financial safeguards following embezzlement discovery

The Daily Republic

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SPRINGFIELD — For the first time since it was discovered that its former finance officer spent two years embezzling money with an illegally obtained debit card, the city of Springfield balanced its budget in December.

Throughout that same time span, the city has worked to put new safeguards in place and reinforce existing checks and balances to ensure it won’t again see what current finance officer Tiffany Balvin told The Daily Republic was the perfect storm of improper documentation and a lax chain of command.