Indictment: Savannah Police Department employee stole more than $150,000 in payroll, overtime funds

A former Savannah Police administrative assistant is accused of stealing more than $150,000 in payroll and overtime funds. Prosecutors say Tiffany Welch-Nealy spent most of her time with Savannah Police stealing from taxpayers and the cops she worked with, and it took investigators more than four years to find out. Hired as a police administrative assistant at the Southside Precinct, Welch-Nealy began her career with SPD in March 2019. But just a few months later, at the beginning of 2020, authorities say she began stealing taxpayer dollars from the officers she called co-workers. The indictment, handed down Wednesday, charges Welch-Nealy with three counts of theft by taking and three counts of theft by deception.Prosecutors say on three occasions, she took a total of $123,570.71 in payroll funds. Then Welch-Nealy made more than $35,000 by saying she worked overtime or other work hours without actually doing it.In all, the former administrative assistant is accused of stealing more than $158,570.71 over four of her five years with Savannah Police. That figure, by the way, is more than two and a half times her yearly salary, and nearly $50,000 more than police captains make in a year. In a statement to WJCL 22 News, the city says they trust that the justice system will handle the matter appropriately, saying, "We remain committed to serving the residents of savannah with integrity and honesty."Despite the theft being discovered in January 2024, Welch-Nealy wasn't officially fired by the city until March. We reached out to Welch-Nealy for comment on the story but haven't heard back.TRENDING STORIESNational Hurricane Center tracking likely tropical development by the weekendImpact Day: Another hot day with severe thunderstorms possibleCaught on Camera: Video captures several sharks swimming close to shore on Tybee Island