Buchanan County has recovered a majority of the funds it lost in a targeted scam recently, according to its treasurer.
Lonnie Keith Boyd said last week that the county had received $3,231,991 back through First Horizon Bank. That money, which has since been returned to the school district, was received on July 27.
On Monday, Boyd said that an additional $66,900 had been recovered that day.
Boyd confirmed that the original amount taken was close to $4.6 million.
A payment intended for a contractor working on the county’s new high school was the target of a scam, the county said in July. Buchanan County is not the first locality to be targeted by a construction scam in recent years.
First Horizon Bank, which was formerly First Tennessee Bank, is not the county’s bank, Boyd said. He said that the money recovered so far was not returned through insurance, but he declined to say how the money was recovered or comment further, citing the ongoing investigation.
The school division immediately contacted law enforcement after the misdirected payment, according to a release. Multiple investigations began, including by the FBI. At the time, school officials did not reply to a request for comment.
School board chair David Thornbury referred questions Friday to Superintendent Sherry Fletcher, who did not respond to requests for comment on Friday and Monday.
School board attorney Ben Street also did not respond to emails. John Danyluk, an attorney with the firm Gentry Locke who was hired by the school board following this incident, was traveling Monday and unable to comment.
It remains unclear if the rest of the funds will be recovered.
The county’s new high school, Southern Gap, will open this month. It will consolidate the county’s four existing high schools into a modern, 200,000-square-foot facility.
Staff writer Meghan Mangrum contributed information to this report.
