Former Warren County Assessor Wendy Nordwald was charged last week with 15 counts of felony theft. Investigators allege she embezzled tens of thousands of dollars, and possibly much more, from the Missouri State Assessors Association (MSAA).

Nordwald was the Warren County Assessor for more than a decade, resigning from her position in 2020 to take work in Florida. According to investigators with the Missouri Highway Patrol, she was also responsible for overseeing MSAA’s education fund from 2011 to 2020.

In court documents seeking charges against Nordwald, investigators say MSAA reviewed records for the education fund after Nordwald’s departure and became concerned about suspicious expenditures from the account. Between 2011 and 2020, Nordwald allegedly wrote 196 checks to herself from the MSAA fund, exceeding $250,000, the highway patrol said.

The memo line on many of the checks indicated they were written for reimbursement of expenses, the highway patrol said. However, investigators who reviewed Nordwald’s personal bank and credit card records allege that they found no expenses that were related to Nordwald’s work with the assessor’s association.

Investigators also note that among the charges from the MSAA account were monthly, automatic payments to Planet Fitness.

When Nordwald became aware of the investigation against her, she allegedly wired over $46,000 back to MSAA and claimed that the situation was a misunderstanding. Investigators quoted her asking that “the dogs be called off” after she returned the funds. She allegedly also provided falsified bank records to the association.

Fifteen suspicious checks or withdrawals that Nordwald gave to herself from 2018 to 2020 are now the subject of the 15 felony charges against her. The checks range in value from $875 to $2,780, totaling over $23,000.

The charges were filed by Prosecuting Attorney Kelly King on July 20 in Warren County Circuit Court. Associate Judge Nathan Carroz of Montgomery County is overseeing the case. Nordwald is being represented by defense attorney Scott Rosenblum.

Nordwald, who changed her last name to Kozma while living in Florida, was taken into custody by the sheriff’s department of Polk County, Fla., on July 21. 

She had been serving as the executive director of the Highlands County Habitat For Humanity in Sebring, Fla., according to the agency’s website.

Because the investigation is a state highway patrol case, Warren County Sheriff Kevin Harrison said last week that he does not yet know what the arrangements will be to bring Nordwald to Warren County. He said the sheriff’s department could be asked to arrange interstate transport for her, or the court could allow her to be released in Florida and turn herself in here.

Once Nordwald is booked at the Warren County Jail, the warrant for her arrest allows her to be released on a recognizance bond that forbids her from leaving Missouri.

When news broke of these charges, The Record contacted Warren County Presiding Commissioner Joe Gildehaus to ask if any local funds had been misused. Gildehaus said that when commissioners first learned that there was a potential investigation against Nordwald, they immediately contacted the Missouri State Auditor’s Office.

“When this came upon us, the commission at that time immediately called the Missouri State Auditor’s Office, Public Corruption and Fraud Division, to come down and speak with us. They came down, they asked for any kind of bank statements, invoices, anything that was done with the assessor’s office. After several months of reviewing, there was a determination that there was no mishandling of funds through the assessor’s office, through the county. This was done by the chief of investigation, Mary Johnson,” Gildehaus said.

Read the full text of the probable cause statement describing the charges against Nordwald here: https://bit.ly/3eL898M

This story has been updated with details of Nordwald being placed in custody and a statement from the Warren County Commission.