Ex-Auditor’s Office employee accused of stealing over $180K in licensing fees pleads guilty

As part of a plea agreement, one count of theft in office and one count of tampering with records were dismissed.

Hockett is scheduled to be sentenced next month.

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As previously reported by News Center 7, Hockett worked as a clerk for the Auditor’s Licensing Department for over a decade.

She was accused of stealing and destroying approximately $189,000 in license fees between May 2023 and July 2024.

Montgomery County Auditor Karl Keith previously told News Center 7 that he felt “betrayed” by Hockett’s alleged actions.

The auditor’s office first discovered the problem in June of 2024, after noticing a shortage of the cigarette license fees that had been collected.

The office believed this was fraud and reached out to the Montgomery County Prosecutor’s Office, which found more shortages in other license fees.

An investigation found that cash and checks were only missing on days Hockett was assigned to complete the daily deposit, according to a previous News Center 7 report.

Keith previously said Hockett admitted to taking the cash and destroying the checks during a conversation with an investigator.

Hockett was fired on Nov. 26, 2024, and arrested the next month.

“I am angry, I am outraged, and I feel betrayed. All of us who work in the County Auditor’s Office are in positions of trust. These actions are a deliberate violation of the public’s trust, actions that are both shocking and appalling,” Keith previously said.

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