Shelton judge again delays Brown trial

Whitman County's former finance director, Cinnamon Brown, was scheduled to go to trial in Mason County Superior Court on Aug. 8 for fraud and forgery charges. Brown, 33, however, did not show up for a pre-trial hearing on July 24. This was the third attempt at a pre-trial hearing, and a warrant was issued for Brown's arrest for the failure to appear, according to a report in the Shelton-Mason County Journal.

According to that report, Brown appeared with her court-appointed attorney John Minarik Monday, Aug. 7, and at that time, Minarik asked the court to quash the warrant for Brown's arrest for the third time.

Warrants were previously issued on May 16 and June 27, both times after Brown failed to appear. The May 16 warrant was quashed after Brown was able to provide documentation that she had been hospitalized, and the June 27 warrant was quashed when she appeared in court July 3. According to the Journal report, at that time, the superior court judge ordered Brown to undergo a competency evaluation.

That evaluation has not yet been completed, and Minarik told the court last week that the hospital likely would not be available to complete that for 90 days.

Another pre-trial hearing has been set for Sept. 11.

Brown, who resigned from her position here a year ago in August, was hired as the city finance director in Shelton last September. She was arrested 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 due to poor job performance. The allegations against her did not surface until January when the City of Shelton finance staff noticed an inconsistency pertaining to her final paycheck. A fraud investigation began that day, and two more fraudulent checks were discovered during the course of the investigation.

The Shelton Police subsequently contacted Whitman County as a result of the discoveries there, and an internal audit investigation was launched here in February. No evidence was found to suggest fraud occured here.

The City of Shelton now uses direct deposit for its paychecks.