Spring Lake finance director pleads guilty to embezzling from taxpayers; some of those funds paid for her mother's nursing home care

The former finance director of a small town in Cumberland County pleaded guilty Wednesday to embezzling more than half a million dollars from taxpayers between 2016 and 2021.

Gay Cameron Tucker, 64, from Fayetteville, admitted to writing checks from the town of Spring Lake's bank account to herself. She admitted to forging signatures of other town officials, including the town mayor and the town manager, according to the U.S. Department of Justice Eastern District of North Carolina.

According to North Carolina Treasurer Dale Folwell, at least $155,000 from Spring Lake's bank account was sent to a Fayetteville nursing home to pay for Tucker's mother's end-of-life care.

Tucker pleaded guilty to one count of embezzlement from a local government receiving federal funds and one count of aggravated identity theft.

Authorities said Tucker could face up to 12 years in prison.

The town has faced scrutiny from the state over their finances since last year. Eventually, the state took control of Spring Lake's finances due to concerns the town was sliding into debt.

“This defendant breached the public’s trust by using public funds intended for her local community to pay her own personal expenses," said U.S. Attorney Micheal Easley in a statement. "Public corruption is a crime that affects all of us and undermines our public institutions."

The federal indictment said all of Tucker's property is subject to seizure. Folwell said the next step will be attempting to seize her retirement savings account.

But the state is not finished investigating the town. Many questions linger, even as authorities wrap up their investigation into Tucker's finances.

Folwell says there are also more than 30 town vehicles "unaccounted for.” His office is working with the North Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles to try and track down these vehicles and see where they went.

"It's like an onion. It gets bigger, and the more we peel it, the more we cry," he said.

Folwell said much of the money came from property taxes paid in Spring Lake, which has the highest local property tax in all of Cumberland County.

"Anytime this occurs, it's the lower- and fixed-income people of that community that get hurt the worst. And now they've been hurt, not once, but twice in 10 years," he said.

On top of using money for personal gain collected from Spring Lake residents through property taxes, Tucker is accused of pocketing $10,000 from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Last year, Spring Lake reported an estimated budget deficit of $1.2 million.

Folwell said that a state commission formed 85 years ago designated to investigate and audit North Carolina's towns sensed there was something "terribly wrong" in Spring Lake.

This year, the town appointed an audit committee that would keep better track of their finances.

"One of the objectives of the audit committee will be to ensure that high quality financial statements be timely, prepared and reviewed in accordance with applicable accounting principles," said Spring Lake Mayor Kia Anthony.

Folwell hopes the investigation into Spring Lake will help increase trust in government entities, which is at an all-time low.