PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) — Prosecutors laid out on Wednesday morning how the state Division of Criminal Investigation and the state Department of Legislative Audit concluded that Lonna Carroll allegedly stole more than $1.7 million from the South Dakota Department of Social Services while she was employed there.
DCI supervisory special agent Matt Glenn said a search of a Pierre storage unit rented by Carroll was packed with containers of clothes as well as boxes of receipts and personal bank statements that indicated she was “spending way more than she was making from her state job” as a financial program assistant in the Division of Child Protection that paid $21.09 per hour.
Glenn told the jury that the receipts showed purchases costing hundreds of dollars were paid in round amounts of cash.
Another witness, intelligence analyst April Pontrelli, presented a report looking at Carroll’s deposits and spending from 2010 through March 2023 when Carroll retired. Pontrelli said Carroll’s deposits substantially increased beyond her annual salary during that period, as did her spending.
