Former Secretary In Greene County Prosecutors Office Charged With Felony Stealing:

A former secretary in the traffic division at the Greene County prosecutors office was charged with felony stealing today (07-06-09) in Greene County.

The charges do no stem from any improprieties of Barbara Birdsong's employment at the prosecutors office, instead they come from a law firm she worked for prior to her employment at the Greene County Judicial Center.

The probable cause statement filed with the charges says that Birdsong was responsible for handling payments for the law firm of Groce and DeArmon, P.C. and accepted cash payments as part of her job. It is alleged that if a client paid in cash, Birdsong would pocket the money before it was deposited.

The alleged theft was uncovered by Attorney Shari DeArmon, who confronted Birdsong in June 2007. The PC states, “DeArmon stated that Birdsong admitted to her that she had stolen the $750 and had been stealing from the business in the past,”

Springfield police first learned of the alleged theft in 2007, but only approached Greene County Prosecutor Darrell Moore about the accusations recently.

Birdsong was employed by the prosecutors office as a temporary employee in 2007, and when a permanent position opened up they offered the thirty eight year-old Birdsong the job.

Moore said his office will recuse itself from the case, and that will ask that a prosecutor from a neighboring county represent the state in the case.



https://www.courts.mo.gov/casenet/cases/searchCases.do
0931-CR04143 - ST V BARBARA J BIRDSONG