Jenny Michael
Bismarck Tribune
Copyright 2007 The Bismarck Tribune, a division of Lee Enterprises
All Rights Reserved
BISMARCK, N.D. — The Kidder County emergency manager has pleaded not guilty to felony theft.
Carla Houghton, 51, entered the plea to South Central District Judge Gail Hagerty following a short preliminary hearing.
Houghton has been accused of taking $9,000 from the Steele Volunteer Fire Department’s charitable gaming fund since 2004.
Hagerty found probable cause to send the case to trial.
Kidder County State’s Attorney Jerod Tufte called one witness during the preliminary hearing. Tom Dahl, a special agent for the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigations, said Steele Police Chief David Feland called him to assist in an audit of the charitable gaming fund in January.
Dahl said he and Feland interviewed Houghton on Jan. 10, and Houghton seemed “very irritated” and “extremely emotional.”
Houghton told them she had been in charge of the charitable gaming funds since 1991, and she had taken and repaid small amounts of money since then until 2004, Dahl said.
“She had told me that, prior to 2004, she had been able to pay because she had taken small amounts,” Dahl said.
He said Houghton told them she had been unable to repay the money she had taken from the fund since 2004.
An audit of the fire department’s charitable gaming fund is ongoing, Dahl said. So far, auditors have found that the fund was behind in funds in six quarters since the third quarter of 2004, he said.
However, more money was deposited in other quarters than records indicate should have been deposited, so the fund is ahead $1,706, Dahl said.
Houghton’s defense attorney, Rauleigh Robinson, said the prosecution has no proof that money was stolen since the fund appears to be ahead in money.
“Mrs. Houghton actually paid back more money than she should have,” Robinson said. “If she actually paid back more money than she took, does that look like an attempt to deprive anyone of money?”
Robinson called Feland to the stand during the hearing. Feland confirmed Dahl’s account of the interview of Houghton in January.
Hagerty said she would find probable cause in the case, because the charge alleges that Houghton took or exercised “unauthorized control over” or made “an unauthorized transfer of interest in the property of another.”
Houghton is free on her promise to appear. Her next scheduled court appearance is June 4.