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Village clerk going to jail after I-Team report

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ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ohio – A former deputy court clerk has been sentenced to jail for conspiring with her mother to embezzle more than $260,000 from the village.

The WCPO I-Team broke the story about Laura Jarvis and her mother, who was the court clerk, ripping off the Mayor's Court.

Jarvis, who took a plea deal, was sentenced Tuesday to nine months in jail and ordered to pay $219,000 in restitution.

Jarvis's mother, Donna Covert, took a plea deal in 2013. She was sentenced to one year in prison and ordered to repay $260,000.

The two were charged with stealing $262,297 paid to the village between 2007 and 2010. They collected traffic fines, court costs and bonds and deposited them in their personal accounts, a special state audit confirmed.

"It's pretty obvious they treated this thing as their own little cookie jar," Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters said at the time.

The I-TEAM investigation uncovered documents showing the mayor and other village officials knew about thefts in the Mayor’s Court going back a decade but did nothing to investigate.  

“The lack of internal controls in Arlington Heights created an environment ripe for theft,” Auditor of State Dave Yost said then.

The special audit criticized Arlington Heights officials for not performing monthly bank reconciliations, not having the mayor or another employee review bank statements or receipts, and not maintaining accurate records.

READ the I-TEAM reports:

July 9: 2012: Arlington Heights knew its employees were pocketing speeding fines

Sept. 26, 2012: Arlington Heights was warned by auditors 15 years ago