Cinnamon Brown trial delayed in Mason County

The Mason County trial of Cinnamon Brown, former Whitman County Finance Director, has been rescheduled. Brown, 33, had been scheduled for trial May 15 on fraud and forgery charges, but she did not show up in court for a May 1 pre-trial hearing.

A warrant for her arrest was subsequently issued the following day, but that warrant was quashed on May 22 after her attorney presented documentation that she had been hospitalized on the May 1 date.

The pre-trial has now been rescheduled for July 24, and the trial is set Aug. 8.

Brown, who resigned from her position here last August and was then hired as city finance director in Shelton in September, was arrested on Feb. 15 on fraud and forgery charges after it was discovered that she allegedly double cashed three paychecks. Brown is accused of using a mobile banking application to take pictures of the checks to deposit them and then depositing those same checks in their paper form at another financial institution.

Brown was fired from her position as Shelton city finance director on Nov. 14, two months after she had begun in the post. Her termination was not related to the alleged fraud.

The allegations against her did not surface until January when the City of Shelton finance staff noticed an inconsistency pertaining to her final paycheck. The transaction, totaling $2,426, was able to be reversed once discovered, and the city staff contacted Shelton Police immediately. A fraud investigation began that day, and two more fraudulent checks totaling $4,632 were discovered during the course of the investigation.

The Shelton Police contacted Whitman County as a result of the discoveries there, and an internal audit investigation was launched here in February. County Auditor Eunice Coker and Finance Director Sharron Cunningham have been checking to see if any similar activity occurred during Brown's employment as the finance director.

Coker reported in March that no evidence had yet been found to suggest fraud here, and she reported to the Gazette Tuesday that the investigation is still ongoing here, but there is still no evidence to suggest fraud.