The former clerk-treasurer for the City of Morton pleaded guilty Wednesday in U.S. District Court to a wire fraud charge connected to her nine-year scheme to steal nearly $1 million from city coffers, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller.
Tamara “Tammy” Clevenger served as the clerk-treasurer for Morton from 2012-2022. In 2024, an audit by the Washington state Auditor’s Office uncovered years of embezzlement totaling $937,584. Clevenger is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Tiffany M. Cartwright on July 7, 2025.
Wire fraud is punishable by up to 20 years in prison. Prosecutors have agreed to recommend a three-year prison term, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, which noted that judges are not bound by the recommendation and can impose any sentence allowed by law, after considering the sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors.
According to records filed in the case, including the plea agreement, Clevenger used a variety of ways to steal funds. Between November 2015 and December 2021, she stole at least $311,727 of cash that citizens had brought in to pay for city services. In some instances, she would write fraudulent city checks in the amount of cash she stole to conceal the theft of the cash. She also made unauthorized cash withdrawals with the City of Morton’s ATM card.
Between February 2013 and December 2021, Clevenger stole at least $625,857 by writing city checks to herself and depositing them in her bank account. Clevenger would use checks that had been pre-signed by the mayor for use in emergency situations. Clevenger used fake vendor invoices to make it appear the checks had been written for a service rendered to the city. Clevenger’s actions used interstate wires to commit the fraud with the transfer of funds between various bank accounts. One example is the transfer of $5,808 in funds from Washington to Umpqua bank servers located outside the state.
Following the audit, the City of Morton established new procedures so that no single person had control of the various banking functions.
The FBI and IRS worked with the Washington State Auditor’s Office on the criminal financial investigation.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Amanda McDowell.
Clevenger has agreed to make restitution to the City of Morton, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. She is reportedly receiving credit for some $8,626 that she deposited to city accounts via ATM machines.
The City of Morton is currently in a legal battle with its insurer — the Association of Washington Cities Risk Management Service Agency — over the denial of the city’s insurance claim to cover the embezzlement losses.
While city staff filed their claim in order to cover the full amount of losses incurred by the city from the embezzlement, the Association of Washington Cities Risk Management Service Agency claims it can only provide Morton with $21,000, according to Ward.
Additionally, the City of Morton is currently facing $100,000 in fees from the Office of the Washington State Auditor related to the investigation.
Clevenger is the second former City of Morton official to be charged within the last year for financial fraud committed during their employment in Morton.
Former Morton Police Chief Roger Morningstar was charged Dec. 18, 2024,in Lewis County Superior Court with two counts of second-degree identity theft and one count each of third-degree theft and abuse of office for allegedly using a city credit card to make unauthorized personal purchases between June 19, 2022, and June 10, 2023.
Morningstar has pleaded not guilty to all charges, and trial is scheduled to begin on May 6, with a trial confirmation hearing scheduled for 9:40 a.m. on Thursday, May 8.
Morningstar, who was hired as Morton’s police chief in 2016, resigned from the Morton Police Department in lieu of termination on June 2, 2023, after he failed a polygraph exam related to an internal investigation into complaints of sexual harassment, misused public funds and untruthful statements on his application to the department.
Before his resignation, he had been on administrative leave since the City of Morton opened its internal investigation on May 15, 2023.
The Washington state Criminal Justice Training Commission revoked Morningstar’s peace officer certification on Dec. 6, 2023, after he failed to request a hearing to defend against the allegations.
