(DRG News – Pierre, SD) A judge has denied the defense’s request to dismiss a grand jury indictment against a former South Dakota Department of Social Services employee accused of stealing approximately $1.8 million.
Lonna Carroll is charged with two counts of Aggravated Grand Theft for allegedly taking the money while working as a DSS employee from 2010-2023.
In Sixth Circuit Court in Fort Pierre Monday (March 3, 2025), Carroll’s attorney argued that if proper procedures for approving checks were being followed, DSS financial auditors or the state’s financial auditors should have noticed the money was missing in 2011. He argued because correct protocol was not being followed, it enabled Carroll to continue committing fraud for about 12 years.
Attorney General Marty Jackley said the discrepancies first came to DSS’s attention in October 2023.
Jackley said the situation was brought to his office’s Division of Criminal Investigation in February 2024.
Jackley has previously said the financial discrepancy was discovered by DSS within a week of implementing a new record keeping system and that it’s highly unlikely any of the nearly $2-million will be recovered.
Carroll was arrested in July 2024 in Algona, Iowa, where she had been living. She’s being held in the Hughes County Jail on a $50,000 cash or surety bond.
Maximum sentence for Count One is 25 years in prison and a $50,000 fine. The maximum sentence for Count Two is 15 years in prison and a $30,000 fine.
The defendant is presumed innocent under the U.S. Constitution.
