After the embezzlement of over 200 thousand dollars, Paducah has received over 60 thousand dollars from a claim filed on their employee theft insurance. The payment is from damages incurred from former employee Patrick Kerr, who worked for the city from September 23 2009 to March 4 2011 as Executive Director of the Paducah McCracken County Convention Center Corporation. The payment of $61,560 comes from the period of time Kerr worked for the city, and the amount embezzled during that time. After March 4, 2011 until his termination in October 2011, Kerr worked as Executive Director through a contract with an employment agency.
City officials say the insurance, held through Zurich North America Surety & Financial Claims, has been maintained to protect itself from such situations.
“No government agency ever wants to believe that an employee would embezzle taxpayer funds; but it is wise to maintain an insurance policy for protection,” said City Manager Jeff Pederson. “I also want to emphasize that this claim payment is not associated with the court-ordered restitution and does not diminish the expectations of recovery efforts being pursued by the Paducah-McCracken County Convention Center Corporation.”
The CCC currently is working with the Bowling Green-based law firm, English, Lucas, Priest, & Owsley regarding the potential sources of recovery for the embezzled funds.
