FORT GAY The mayor and a top official in a Wayne County town are facing allegations of embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from public accounts, along with falsifying records and using town funds to pay personal expenses.
Sixty-eight-year-old mayor of Fort Gay Joetta Hatfield and fifty-three-year-old Sheila Bowen, the town’s recorder and treasurer, were arrested multiple alleged financial crimes. The charges include fraudulent schemes, embezzlement, falsifying accounts by a public employee, laundering over twenty thousand dollars and conspiracy against the state.
The arrests followed an investigation by West Virginia State Police, which was launched in October after a referral from the State Auditor’s Office. Investigators allege that between March 2019 and May 2024, Hatfield and Bowen used their official positions to embezzle money from the town.
According to a criminal complaint, the two wrote hundreds of unauthorized checks to one another from town accounts. Police allege 107 checks were written to Hatfield totaling $96,425.20 and 103 checks to Bowen totaling $94,540.14. These payments were said to be concealed by falsifying financial records provided to the Fort Gay Council.
Bowen is accused of using town funds to pay her personal utility bills. Investigators allege she used town water accounts to pay $8,572.75 to Appalachian Power and used the town’s general account to pay $16,036.64 to AT&T. She also admitted to using town funds for these payments in a recorded statement.
Hatfield is accused of using town accounts to pay $8,908.09 in personal Appalachian Power bills and $3,909.97 to Frontier Communications.
Investigators say financial records were altered or omitted at least two hundred times in the accounting software used by the town, including transactions tied to a furniture store owned by Hatfield’s husband.
Hatfield and Bowen are currently out of jail on $25,000 bonds.