Shelby County Criminal Court Clerk staffer charged with stealing over $60k from evidence rooms

A former Shelby County Criminal Court Clerk staffer has been charged with stealing more than $60,000 cash from evidence boxes.

Investigators say one-time Principal Court Clerk Steven Sharp stole at least $61,890.87 in cash from two property and evidence storage locations located at 201 Poplar Ave. and 994 South Bellevue Blvd.

The investigation began after a victim's family member came to collect the victim's belongings after a judge ordered the family was entitled to them. When a staff member went to find those belongings, they could not find them. An investigative report released Friday by the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury said this was when Sharp found the evidence box in the wrong location.

Another employee later noticed the money was missing from the evidence box. After a second incident of money being removed from an evidence box, Chief Administrative Officer Cedrick Wooten performed an audit of the property and evidence rooms.

"The evidence room staff were notified that a mandatory audit would take place on October 19, 2020," the report read. "The only employee who did not report for work the day of the audit was Steven Sharp. Sharp did not answer any calls from his supervisor or management. Sharp did not return to his job after the audit was performed, and his employment was officially terminated on October 22, 2020, for job abandonment."

About nine months later, investigators received a list of evidence cases that had some form of money and found that 270 cases were missing money. They had reviewed 2,045 cases in total.

In February, the report said Sharp admitted he had taken money from both locations, but said most came from the Bellevue location. He said he started taking money in 2018.

He was indicted in August for theft of property over $2,500 and one count of official misconduct.

In addition to indicting Sharp, investigators from the Comptroller's office identified four internal issues they say allowed Sharp to take money from evidence.

"Management did not provide adequate oversight over the evidence rooms...Management did not verify the BEAST record-keeping system data on a current basis...Management did not implement a password policy that instructs staff to change their password periodically...Periodic inventories were not conducted to ensure the integrity of the property and evidence rooms," the report said.

However, investigators wrote they were told these problems had either already been resolved or would be resolved.

"Offices that maintain evidence must conduct periodic inventories to ensure that all property is safeguarded," said Comptroller Jason Mumpower in a press release. "It's also necessary to establish strong internal controls that help eliminate occasions when one person is left unattended with important and valuable assets."

Sharp was released on his own recognizance in early September and will next appear in court October 13.

Lucas Finton is a news reporter with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at Lucas.Finton@commercialappeal.com and followed on Twitter @LucasFinton.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Shelby Co. Criminal Court Clerk indicted, stole over $60k