QUITMAN, Texas — A former East Texas city water clerk accused of stealing more than $23,000 from residents' water account deposits over a three-year period has been indicted.
Amber Highnote, of Alba, was indicted June 29 in Wood County on a charge of property theft worth $2,500 to $30,000 in connection with accusations of taking customers' deposits while working for the city of Quitman.
According to an arrest affidavit, Highnote worked as a water clerk from February 2017 to July 2021. In January of this year, a city of Quitman employee contacted police to file a theft report against Highnote.
Highnote was arrested on Jan. 28 and released the same day on a $10,000 bond, jail records show.
The city employee told a detective that last August a city water customer wanted to get the water turned off at their home. However, when the worker looked up the customer's account, she realized they didn't have a deposit entered into the city's system, the affidavit read.
Notes from Highnote showed that a $150 deposit had been entered in June 2020. After using several methods, the employee could not find a deposit for the customer, except a receipt that Highnote had written, the affidavit stated.
The worker later discovered many deposit entries were missing from 2018 to 2021 while Highnote worked for the city of Quitman. The city's auditor then reviewed the data to confirm the money was not in the reports or put into bank deposits, according to the document.
Based on documents given to the Quitman police, the detective determined the missing money from Highnote's transactions totaled $23,250 between 2018 and 2021. The worker also reported a missing receipt book from the city's inventory, the affidavit read.
Highnote is charged with a state jail felony, and if found guilty, she faces up to two years in jail and fines up to $10,000, according to the Texas Penal Code.
