(LaGrange County, IN)-Two former employees of the Twin Mills Camping Resort in Howe were arrested yesterday following a two month long Indiana State Police investigation into an internal theft allegation.
An internal audit by business officials revealed in excess of $19,000.00 in cash and $3,000.00 in checks were not deposited over a two month time frame from July through August, 2016. State Police Detective Mike Carroll initiated his investigation on September 8, 2016 following a request from the LaGrange County Sheriff Department to assist them with the financial crime investigation. The focus of the investigation quickly turned to the former Administrative Assistant Ariel L. Allen, who was in charge of making monetary deposits on behalf of Twin Mills, and her live in boyfriend Michael L. Sawyer, also a former Twin Mills employee.
Following an initial interview of Allen, Carroll and Troopers assisted LaGrange County Detective Don Faust execute a search warrant at the residence utilized on the Twin Mills property by Allen and Sawyer.
During the execution of that search warrant, officers were able to recover a bag that contained all of the missing checks, two burlap money bags belonging to Twin Mills, and other paperwork from the business that would have been inside of the money drops to include a document logging the cash and checks that were missing. The cash was not recovered and the case was forwarded to the LaGrange County Prosecutor’s Office for review.
Allen and Sawyer were arrested on warrants from this case as they arrived at the LaGrange County Courthouse for an unrelated case. They are being charged with the following:
- Ariel Lynn Allen, 25, no residence
- Michael Lloyd Sawyer, 27, no residence
- Theft, Level 6 Felony
- Assisting a Criminal, Class A Misdemeanor
All Suspects Are Presumed Innocent Until Proven Guilty in a Court of Law
