This article has been updated with a statement from Mayor Jackie Oliver.
OAK GROVE, KY (CHRISTIAN COUNTY NOW) – An Oak Grove city official has been arrested following an extensive web of accusations, discussions and investigations of a misappropriation of funds over several years.
Hailey Bamford was arrested Monday at Oak Grove City Hall and booked into the Christian County Jail, charged with 14 counts of tampering with public records and abuse of public trust less than $10,000.
During the investigation, Kentucky State Police detectives discovered that Bamford, the city’s payroll accountant and human resources employee, had falsified her time entry and altered her time sheets on multiple occasions since May 2022. With the assistance of the KSP Special Investigations Auditor, an audit revealed numerous occasions of false entries, altering, deletion and destruction of records related to business payroll for the City of Oak Grove, according to a news release from KSP.
The investigation revealed that from May 2022 through October 2023, Bamford falsified business records to obtain city taxpayer money via theft of time for a minimum of $6,208. KSP Post 2 Detective Jacob Stephens and Drug Enforcement Special Investigation East Auditor Billianne Withers conducted the investigation.
Previous coverage of city council meetings by Christian County Now helps construct a timeline of questions and accusations leading up to the arrest.
March 2024
A special session of the Oak Grove City Council was held to discuss an ongoing investigation about misappropriation of city funds. The purpose of the meeting was to figure out where the breakdown was within the chain of command that allowed the theft to occur.
These allegations initially came to light during the Feb. 6 meeting when Financial Director Bobbie Crawford told the council she noticed $11,500 was misappropriated from city funds in April of 2023. She said it began with questionable manual additions to sick days, which led to more questionable findings. She noticed the first improprieties in April and notified Mayor Jackie Oliver of her findings in July 2023.
August 2024
A few residents voiced their concerns about accusations against Bamford at the Oak Grove City Council meeting on Aug. 6. During public comments, Bamford was blamed for delays in the 2023 audit. Earlier that month Interim Finance Director Matt Egbert found that the Oak Grove Fiscal Year 2023 audit had not been completed yet, which meant the 2024 audit could not proceed.
After the meeting, Christian County Now reached out to Bamford for comment. She replied that she is being hazed and targeted for an incident regarding her prior boss whom she had a falling out with. “The reason I am still here is because I am not backing down, I have done nothing wrong,” said Bamford.
Mayor Oliver was unable to comment at the time as the incident was still under investigation by Kentucky State Police. “I don’t know what is going to happen; I don’t know what else to say about it,” said Oliver.
January 2025
During an audit report in January, Clifton Daniel from the financial institution Borland Benefield presented Oak Grove City Council with their 2023 audit information. One of the findings included a payroll clerk (later revealed to be Bamford) that had made edits to her own time sheets in the accounting and payroll system. “There was no authorized documentation provided for her to be able to make those edits. The total estimated amount of these unusual instances is $8,000 for the June 2023 fiscal year,” Daniel told the council during the Jan. 7 meeting.
Several recommendations were given at the time including a separation of duties, establishing oversight on the payroll process, and creating digital copies of timesheets. No legal action was taken at the time.
February 2025
Mayor Oliver signed an executive order during the February meeting outlining the city’s cash handling procedures to ensure financial integrity, protect public funds, and ensure city operations are running smoothly and ethically.
Finance Director Matt Egbert explained that the order came in direct response to recent findings from the city’s audit report in early January. As part of the effort to implement stronger safeguards, Egbert announced that a new time clock policy will be introduced on Feb. 15. “We will have a two-week grace period for this policy, and it will be issued to every employee this week,” he said.
Statement from mayor
On April 15, Mayor Jackie Oliver shared the following statement in response to the arrest.
“I want to take a moment to address the public regarding a personnel matter and resulting criminal charges against a former city employee.
As many of you know, following a lengthy investigation by the Kentucky State Police, criminal charges were filed against a now former city employee yesterday. During the course of the investigation, I consulted with the City Attorney and chose not to terminate the individual at that time. This decision was made to protect the city from the risk of a wrongful termination lawsuit, particularly in the event no formal charges were filed.
Yesterday, I was notified charges were officially brought against this individual. Following renewed consultation with the City Attorney, I made the decision to terminate her employment.
On the advice of our City Attorney, I decline to comment on any specific allegations regarding this matter. We are fully cooperating with the prosecutor and the Kentucky State Police investigation into this matter, and I assure you we will continue to do so.
I want to reassure everyone that every action I’ve taken has been with the best interest of Oak Grove in mind.”
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Lily Russell contributed to this article.