Thompson

BUCKHANNON – The former executive director of the Upshur County Senior Center has been arrested for allegedly embezzling more than $79,000 from the center.

Tracie Thompson, 49, of Elkins, was arrested and charged Tuesday in Upshur County Magistrate Court with embezzlement, a felony.

Thompson is accused of embezzling $79,237.43 from the Upshur County Senior Center between Nov. 18, 2022 and March 31, 2023. She is currently being held at Tygart Valley Regional Jail on a $79,237.43 cash-only bond.

According to the criminal complaint, compiled by Sgt. Theron Caynor of the Upshur County Sheriff’s Department, on Feb. 28, Thompson, who was also the former manager of Country Roads Transit, was hired to be the Upshur County Senior Center executive director on Oct. 25, 2021, and remained with the center until June 26, 2024.

During her time as executive director, Thompson, according to the complaint, secured a MasterCard credit card that was attached to the senior center’s account, with the bills listed in her name.

According to the complaint, Thompson “did not follow the policies of the Senior Center and did not have permission of the board of directors to get this credit card.”

After Thompson left the employ of the center in June 2024, the new executive director, Brett Belt, received credit card bills that did not match the cards in use at the Senior Center, according to the complaint. 

After Belt contacted the credit card company, the card’s information was given to a certified fraud examiner C.P.A. who found that, between Nov. 18, 2022 and March 31, 2023, the card had been used around 800 times for purchases not relating to the center, the complaint states.

A large pattern of purchases were traced to stores in Elkins, according to the complain. Caynor stated that he issued several search warrants for water, power company and cell phone records. According to Caynor, these records show that Thompson was “making payments for her home address as well as goods and service for her and others in the household.”