Pine-Strawberry Water Improvement District—Theft and Misuse of Public Monies

The Gila County Attorney’s Office reported a fraud allegation to the Office of the Auditor General involving Rebecca Sigeti. Ms. Sigeti was the accounting manager for Pine-Strawberry Water Improvement District (District) and the accountant for a private business, Sunny Mountain Realty, LLC (Sunny Mountain). Our investigation of Ms. Sigeti revealed that from August 2010 through January 2016, she may have embezzled a total of $841,056 from her employers: $524,686 from the District and $316,370 from Sunny Mountain. The alleged embezzled district monies came from customer security deposits and water-use payments as well as taxpayer property tax payments and should have been used to support district operations. We have submitted our report to the Arizona Attorney General’s Office, which has taken criminal action against Ms. Sigeti resulting in her indictment on 40 felony counts.