Former Carthage Parks Director charged with stealing $142,000, money laundering

 The Jasper County Prosecuting Attorney's office filed felony charges against former Carthage parks director Mark Peterson today in connection with more than $140,000 that were stolen between 2020 and 2022.

According to the probable cause statement, Peterson was taking money from the operation of the municipal golf course and depositing it into multiple bank accounts labeled as "Mark Peterson DBA Pete's Pro Shop."

Peterson faces three counts of stealing and two counts of money laundering. A warrant was issued for his arrest today with bond set at $100,000, cash or surety.

The allegations against Peterson are detailed in the probable cause statement:

On 12/20/2022 the Carthage Police Department was contacted in reference to a possible theft of fuel at the Carthage Parks Department. 

During the course of the initial investigation, it was determined that there were also issues with the financials of the Parks Department. After several interviews with Parks Department and City of Carthage golf course employees, it was determined that a large amount of currency missing from the City of Carthage bank account that should have been deposited from the golf course. 

A subsequent investigation occurred, and during that investigation, Mark Peterson had been identified as the suspect for the theft of city funds. 

During this investigation, an investigative subpoena was sent to multiple banks for the financial information of Peterson. It was later discovered that Peterson had multiple different accounts of “Mark Peterson DBA Petes Pro Shop." 

After speaking with several employees at the Carthage Golf Course it was discovered that Mark Peterson was the only person that handled large amounts of cash used for payments, tournament checks, and the daily cash deposits (until near the end of 2022). 

Peterson was also responsible for providing the City of Carthage with spreadsheets, transaction reports, and revenue reports. An accounting firm, BerganKDV, was contacted in reference to a forensic audit of the city accounts and subpoena information that had been obtained for Mark Peterson. 

BerganKDV later sent a Summary Report for their findings. Through the course of the forensic audit it was determined that there had been multiple areas throughout the city bank accounts, related to the Carthage Golf Course, that had funds missing. There were discrepancies between cash sales/checks deposited, tournament checks deposited, and gift card purchases/transactions. 

The amount missing from the city bank account that was the largest was for golf tournaments paid during the years of 2020-2022. The city did not have $90,844.00 dollars deposited into the expected city account. 

The bank accounts belonging to Mark Peterson during the same time period had $91,896.73 additional dollars deposited into them with no explanation as to why there was such a large increase in his personal accounts (receipts, payroll changes, etc.). 

The amount of missing funds from the city bank account that was reported by the point of sale software as gift cards was $14,225.67 dollars during the project period of 2020-2022. The amount of missing funds from the city bank account that was reported by the point of sale software as cash sales for day to day golf services at the Carthage Golf Course was $37,392.82 dollars. The point of sale software, transaction documentation, gift cards, credit/debit sales, and cash/check sales were all examined for the time period of 2020-2022. 

The total amount of money that was not deposited into City of Carthage bank accounts relating to the Carthage Golf Course was $142,462.49. 

A review of Peterson’s personal bank accounts and “Mark Peterson DBA Petes Pro Shop” accounts showed large deposits, frequent transfers between the accounts, and several large purchases of cryptocurrency that correlated to the missing funds from the City of Carthage during the same time frame that was reviewed by BerganKDV.

Before replacing retiring Alan Bull as parks director June 1, 2019, Peterson had been the head professional at the Carthage Golf Course since 1996.