A former Surry County social-services worker has been arrested on a charge of obtaining property by false pretenses.
The Surry County Sheriff's Office said that Donna Marie Key, 51, of 2593 S. Main St., Mount Airy, was arrested last Tuesday and released after posting a $25,000 bond.
The sheriff's office said that in 2004, Key told an employee she supervised at the Department of Social Services, to go with a client to the bank each month and withdraw $155 from the client's bank account.
Key told the employee that the $155 was the client's contribution to her subsidized housing, and that the money went into a special account, Sheriff Graham Atkinson said in a news release.
When the employee asked for a receipt to document that arrangement, Key told her one wasn't needed, the sheriff's office said. The employee began keeping notes on each payment, including writing down the names of other social-services employees who were around when she gave Key the money.
In September, Key and the employee went to Wal-Mart, and Key told the employee they were shopping for a family whose home had burned, the sheriff's office said.
That incident, and the arrangement with the monthly rent payment, led to the charge against Key.
The sheriff's office said that Key had the employee sign the Wal-Mart receipt, but that a detective was able to verify that Key was with the employee using store surveillance.
The employee called the sheriff's office earlier this year, after she asked another employee who deals with the department's finances about the special account for the client's $155 monthly payment.
That's when the employee found out the account doesn't exist, the sheriff's office said.
"Because of her notes, we were able to find witnesses to many of the transactions," Detective David Hamlin said in the news release. "They said she always put the money in her desk or under her leg to try to hide it. She never left it where anyone could see it, which they thought was unusual."
Further information about the case was unavailable yesterday.
The news release did not say how much money the sheriff's office believes Key took.
Wayne Black, the head of Surry's social-service department, referred questions yesterday to County Attorney Ed Woltz, who was not able to get answers from a county official about the amount taken.
Key was fired from her job, the sheriff's office said. She did not return a phone message left last night.
■ Dan Galindo can be reached at 727-7377 or at dgalindo@wsjournal.com.
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