Former county treasurer facing charges

Former Milam County Treasurer Donna Orsag faces a felony charge for allegedly taking money from Bea’s Kitchen deposits and destroying e-mails and records on her county computer’s hard drive to cover it up.

Orsag, 56, resigned from her position on Sept. 25 following allegations of theft made by the Milam County Sheriff’s office. She is charged with tampering with or fabricating physical evidence, a third-degree felony. She also may be charged with theft by a public official after a forensic audit is completed.

Orsag was arrested and taken to the Milam County Jail on Oct. 3. She is out on bail.

According to the probable cause statement from the Milam County District Attorney’s Office, Milam County Chief Deputy Chris White was contacted on Sept. 13 by Milam County auditor Danica Lara who said Orsag was “floating” money from the weekly receipts and deposits from Bea’s Kitchen.

A Milam County technician was ordered to make a copy of Orsag’s office computer hard drive, and the process was started and completed on Sept. 22. The computer was then put back in Orsag’s office on Sept. 23.

According to a probable cause affidavit, on Sept. 25 Orsag said she took the money during a six-week period because of financial hardships.

White told Orsag she had to vacate her office, and she gave her resignation to Milam County Judge Dave Barkemeyer by noon that day.

The affidavit said that on Sept. 26 when Lara tried to access the documents needed to process payroll for Milam County employees that was due later that week, the documents and e-mails were missing from the hard drive. Hundreds of e-mails and documents were erased from the hard drive after Orsag was notified of the investigation into her alleged illegal activities and resigned.

At least three of the documents destroyed were directly related to part of the theft investigation.

The degree of the theft charge against Orsag will be determined by how much she took, which won’t be known until the forensic audit is completed.

The affidavit was issued Oct. 3 by Milam County Justice of the Peace Sam Berry.

Linda Acosta was sworn in Friday as the new county treasurer.