The St. Louis County Attorney’s Office has formally brought criminal charges for theft of public funds against former Ely Deputy Clerk Patti Wellvang.

According to the complaint issued on Thursday, Wellvang was observed on video camera or videotape on four occasions taking what police officials believed to be money from a cash drawer and envelopes in the city clerk’s office.

Suspicion first arose in early February of this year when City Clerk-Treasurer Terri Boese approached then Ely Police Chief Archie Manning regarding what she believed to be a problem of missing money in the clerk’s office.

Boese reported that the petty cash drawer normally holds $400 when fully funded, but it was nearly empty.

As a result, cameras were installed in the clerk’s office on March 27.

On April 1, Manning was watching the cameras in the basement of city hall. He observed Wellvang preparing to leave the office late in the afternoon. He saw her open a large manila envelope from a front drawer,

remove a legal-sized envelope from it, open the smaller envelope and appear to remove what Manning believed to be cash.

He could not determine its denomination, but knew it was paper money. She took the items she removed and placed them in her jacket pocket, according to the complaint.

Manning was aware of a legal-sized envelope marked as “library fines” that was counted and sealed with $250, then placed inside the large manila envelope. Upon further inspection later that day, the sealed envelope for library fines was found to have been opened and was missing $60.

According to the complaint, a similar incident occurred on April 3, that involved money being taken from a manila envelope in a drawer.

On April 17, Manning handed Wellvang a sealed envelope containing $100 marked as “fingerprints for employment.” According to the complaint, she was later observed on video opening the envelope and putting the

$100 into her purse, which she had placed on top of her office chair. She then put a magazine on top of her purse, appearing to hide other items she had put into it and covering the $100.

On April 21, she was seen again on video taking two $20 bills from the cash drawer in her office. She appeared to put one bill in her pocket and the other in her jacket pocket.

In addition, the complaint describes a missing amount of reimbursement funds that were not replaced into petty cash.

Wellvang allegedly submitted $35.55 of receipts for petty cash reimbursement. She was given a reimbursement check for $339 that was cashed but the funds were never placed into the petty cash drawer located in the clerk’s office vault.

Wellvang is charged with theft of public funds, the amount having a value of not more than $1,000.

Theft of public funds is categorized as a felony. The maximum sentence is five years in prison and/or a $10,000 fine.

Her first court appearance will be on Friday, Dec. 11 at 9:30 a.m. in the St. Louis County Courthouse in Virginia.