VIENNA — The Maries County Law Enforcement Restitution Fund (CLERF) Board of Trustees voted 4-0-1 on April 27 to deny Sheriff Mark Morgan’s request to use the board’s money to reimburse $5,300 of missing funds taken from Amber Pack during a 2025 traffic stop.

Now former deputy Jay Yelton arrested Pack during a June 5, 2025, traffic stop, where the $5,300 was confiscated. Pack was later found guilty of possession of a controlled substance and sentenced to seven years in prison and five years on probation. However, her incarceration was suspended, and on Dec. 1, 2025, she started probation.

The county circuit court ordered Morgan to return the money, and he requested using CLERF to pay for the expense. Because this request was denied, the sheriff’s office will have to cover this cost.

According to the board’s meeting minutes, Chairperson Justin Smith said that this was in a “gray area” and did not believe that it qualified as a “reasonable” expense. Board member Cindy Butler agreed.

The county restitution fund is authorized by Missouri Revised State Statute 50.565 to fund five specific law-enforcement activities. Morgan cited the fifth reason as justification, which says that the board of trustees can approve “any county law enforcement-related expense” that is “reasonably related to investigation, charging, preparation, trial, and disposition of criminal cases before the courts of the state of Missouri.”

According to Morgan’s report to the county commission on April 23, the money seizure was not filed with the court as a forfeiture money from criminal activity. Therefore, once the case closed, the money was considered Pack’s property.

However, the money, which was unsecured, was reported stolen from the sheriff’s office processing room June 11, 2025, leading to the Missouri Highway Patrol investigating the issue. To prevent this from happening again, the sheriff’s office has installed cameras in the processing and evidence rooms.

No suspect has been identified, but there is still a possibility of finding the person.

“I know that there was something new that just came up that might shed a little bit of light, but it’s hard to say. I’m not overly optimistic at this time, but I think there’s still hope,” Morgan said.