08.16.07
Dr. Dana Boehm, Interim WCRAS Director, Arrested For Theft Of Tax Refund Check
It’s unrelated to her work at WCRAS. News 8 has the story, Wilco shelter director arrested for theft.
n the latest chapter in the embattled Williamson County Regional Animal Shelter, the current shelter director, Dr. Dana Boehm, has been jailed for felony theft.
Boehm is accused of stealing an IRS refund check from her former employer, the Hutto Vet Clinic.
John Holmstrom, who owns the Hutto Vet Clinic, said he never received a tax refund for $3,270 from the 2005 tax year. He found out the check was cashed at a bank in Taylor with the stamp of his signature that he uses for prescriptions.
An affidavit states that Boehm admitted Aug. 3 to Holmstrom’s wife, Linda Welch, that she took the IRS check and cashed it.
Boehm is charged with felony theft over $1,500 but less than $20,000. If convicted, Boehm faces up to two years in prison and/or a $10,000 fine.
The “Mayberry Maciavelli’s” record of success continues. More from Shelter Concerns.
For what its worth, Dr. Boehm is former Precinct 4 County Commissioner Frankie Limmer’s niece.
CapitolAnnex said,
August 18, 2007 at 11:23 pm
Yesterday, when I read this and another post on your front page about the shelter situation, I went back through your archives and read more about the WillCo shelter issues. I was aware that there were bad things going on in regard to the WillCo shelter, but I had not paid as much attention as I should have to this developing story (which, by the way, you guys have covered excellently).
The most shocking thing to me about this is that the WillCo Sheriff’s Department is the one investigating the animal cruelty and other issues relating to the Animal Shelter. Since the shelter is a county government agency, standard operating procedure is for the SO to turn something like this over to the Texas Rangers/Department of Public Safety for investigation. For the SO to be investigating this is a pretty terrible conflict of interest.
Furthermore, what is happening with the WillCo shelter is similar to what is happening around the state and, most likely, the nation.
The fact is that animal control policy is one of the most little-understood and most ignored aspects of public policy. It is an afterthought even though quality public policy in this area is key to both health and safety of the state’s citizens.
This crisis also highlights the fact that, out of all of the grant moneys allocated by the Legislature over the past decade in law enforcement and public policy, I am unaware of any significant allocation dedicated to animal control for higher quality shelters, etc.
Also, it is high time for the Legislature to rewrite the portions of the Health & Safety Code and Local Government Code that address animal control (sometimes under the guise of zoonosis) policy.
Back to my most important point, though, the citizens working on this issue in WillCo need to DEMAND that all investigations related to the operations of the shelter be turned over to the Texas Rangers and that any indictments or charges that result therefrom be handled by a special prosecutor from the attorney general’s office.