An arrest warrant was issued Tuesday charging a former employee of the Chaffee County Clerk and Recorder’s Office with embezzlement after officials of that office discovered nearly $4,000 missing from a cash account.  The former employee, Steven Paul Geske, 45, of Poncha Springs, is being sought by sheriff’s deputies. 

Geske, whose title was clerk to the board of county commissioners, had been an employee of the clerk’s office for about one year and was given responsibility for administering the cash account about six months ago.  Called a “copy account,” the fund is paid into by clients such as banks, title companies, and realtors to cover the clerk’s office’s fees for various photocopying on the clients’ behalf.  An envelope containing cash is maintained for each of the seventeen individual clients.

Ms. Reno and her staff became suspicious after receiving calls from clients complaining that they had not received their account notices, a task that was Geske’s responsibility.  Within days after Ms. Reno began an inquiry, Geske disappeared.

Geske was last seen at the clerk’s office April 29 but failed to return to work in the days following.  Chaffee County Clerk Joyce Reno alerted the sheriff’s office May 1, the day the funds were discovered missing.  An investigation was launched at that time. 

Ms. Reno said, “I am extremely dismayed by the allegations that, if proven, are a shocking betrayal of the public trust.  This is the first instance of this kind in my forty-one years working in this office.”

The arrest warrant, signed by Judge Charles Barton, charges Geske with embezzlement of public property, a class five felony; theft, a class six felony; and first degree official misconduct, a class two misdemeanor.  The sheriff’s office asks that anyone having information concerning the whereabouts of Geske notify their office at 719-539-2596.