Missing Money Mystery in Merrillville -- Who Took the Town's $300K?

A mystery is afoot in Merrillville as town and state officials investigate who took almost $300,000 from the town's treasury.

Merrillville's clerk-treasurer breaks the news that a "long-time town employee" took almost $290,000 from the town's treasury, according to Post-Tribune and Northwest Indiana Times news reports.

Officials with Indiana's State Board of Accounts continue their audit and criminal charges haven't yet been filed against the unnamed employee.

Writes Piet Levy in the Post-Tribune:

Reports of $41,000 missing first surfaced in July, but now seem to have just scratched the surface. Clerk-Treasurer Rose Ann Antich-Carr said more than $290,000 disappeared between 2001 and 2005, according to findings by the Indiana State Board of Accounts.

Antich-Carr said she believes a town employee is the culprit. "The morale had really fallen when the office staff heard this," Antich-Carr said. "It's a sick situation."