CLEVELAND – Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael C. O’Malley announced that a grand jury has returned an indictment charging Debbie Bosworth, 53, for embezzling over $238,000 while working as a clerk for the Village of Chagrin Falls.

“Taxpayers expect their money to be handled properly and ethically. Ms. Bosworth exploited her position as a public employee and in the process violated the trust placed in her by the citizens of Chagrin Falls.”

Prosecutor Michael C. O’Malley

Bosworth was hired in 1997 and served as a clerk for the Village’s Building and Utilities Departments. In her roles she was responsible for payment processing, contractor registrations, building department permits, making deposits, and managing additional departmental accounting tasks.

In November 2019, Village officials noticed financial discrepancies within the Building and Water Departments. They discovered irregularities between the departments’ bank accounts and accounting software, as well as monthly reports provided to the Finance Department. The officials alerted the administration who then forwarded the information to the Chagrin Falls Police Department (CFPD) to investigate.

The investigation revealed that Bosworth stole cash from the Water Department and replaced the missing cash with checks that were to be deposited in the Building Department’s bank account. She then submitted falsified reports to the Finance Department to hide the theft. In December 2019, as allegations came to light, Bosworth altered records on the Building Department’s software program in a further attempt to conceal the crime. CFPD’s investigation uncovered that Bosworth embezzled over $238,000 between January 2000 and November 2019.

Bosworth has been indicted on the following charges:

  • Two counts of Theft In Office
  • Thirteen counts of Tampering with Records
  • Seven counts of Money Laundering

She is scheduled to be arraigned on Monday, March 1 at 8:30 a.m. at the Cuyahoga County Justice Center.