Former Great Bend CVB Director Cris Collier
Barton County Attorney Amy Mellor announced Thursday, July 13 that a criminal case has been filed against Crystal Jo Collier for theft.
The complaint, filed with the Barton County District Court, charges that between the end of July of 2012 and the middle of January, 2015, Collier stole monies or property between $25,000 and $100,000 and deceived the Great Bend Convention & Visitors Bureau in the process of doing so.
In a second charge, the Barton County Attorney’s Office states Collier wrote out a check stub that falsely stated the amounts of monies spent during a period of time or the reasons why the monies were spent.
Both charges are felony level crimes under Kansas law.
Collier appeared in Barton County District Court July 13 with her attorney, Dennis Keenan. Collier was advised of her charges and the possible penalty for each charge. The preliminary hearing will be scheduled at a later date.
Although charges were filed, this does not amount to an admission or finding of guilt, and Collier is presumed to be innocent of wrongdoing at this time.
Collier served as Great Bend Convention & Visitors Bureau Director for 30 years until retiring in December of 2015.
As the City of Great Bend took over the every-day CVB operations on January 1, 2016, it was discovered that Collier possibly misused funds.