A 43-year-old Newton woman, Kayla Tillery has been formally charged for allegedly being involved in the theft of cash and Newton Chamber “ Newton Bucks.”

Harvey County Attorney David Yoder filed the charges Wednesday in Harvey County District Court alleging the forgery of a check in the name of the Newton Chamber for 55-hundred dollars and the theft of over 25-thousand dollars from the Newton Chamber of Commerce’s “Newton Bucks” program fund.

He says bond has now been set in the amount of 50-thousand dollars and a preliminary hearing has been scheduled for Thursday, March 28, at 1:30 p-m, before Judge Joe Dickinson.

During the time period giving rise to the alleged charges, Tillery was an employee of the Newton Chamber. Yoder says there are no other suspects in the case and no other members of the Newton Chamber are suspected of being involved.

However, he says the investigation of this case in ongoing, with the potential for additional charges being filed prior to the preliminary hearing.

“Newton Bucks” work just like a check at 30 participating businesses in Newton and the surrounding area, according to the chamber website. The idea of the bucks was to get local residents to do their shopping locally.

Tillery is no stranger to the law with numerous convictions of forgery, bad checks, theft and criminal use of a financial card for cases in Reno and Barton counties all from 2006. She was released from community corrections supervision in 2008.