Charges filed against Shelly Flannery

MEEKER — Charges were filed last week in Rio Blanco County against Shelly Flannery, the former treasurer for the Rio Blanco County Historical Society.
“There were two counts filed,” said Anthony Mazzola, 9th Judicial District investigator.
The charges — Class 4 felony theft and Class 5 felony forgery — were filed last Thursday in district court.
The Meeker Police Department had turned the case over to the DA’s office after completing its investigation in November.
Flannery is scheduled to make a first court appearance in Rio Blanco County on Feb. 27.
Also last week, Flannery accepted a plea agreement in a different case in Routt County. According to the Craig Daily Press, Flannery pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of theft greater than $20,000, a Class 4 felony. She originally had been charged with a Class 3 felony for stealing more than $70,000 from the Routt County Habitat for Humanity during her time as executive director of the organization. She will be sentenced March 18.
In the historical society case, Flannery repaid $7,300 in July, which had been missing from the organization’s books, but an additional $7,100 is still outstanding.
“I haven’t heard much about the Routt County proceedings,” said Steve Wix, historical society president. “We were assuming that Rio Blanco would file charges. It is up to the DA. As far as we can tell, the $7,000 figure is still valid. The police have a smaller figure that they say is provable. I doubt that we will ever get anything more from Shelly.”
At its first quarterly meeting of the new year, historical society members elected a new treasurer, Ellen Reichert. The organization’s president, Wix, had been handling the treasurer’s duties in the interim.