GREAT BEND – The woman who served for 30 years as director of the Great Bend Convention and Visitors Bureau is accused of stealing money from the organization.

On Thursday, Barton County Attorney Amy Mellor announced in a media release that a criminal case has been filed against Crystal Jo Collier for theft.

The complaint, filed with the Barton County District Court, charges that between the end of July 2012 and the middle of January 2015, Collier stole monies or property between $25,000 and $100,000 and deceived the Great Bend Convention & Visitors Bureau in the process of doing so.

In a second charge, the Barton County Attorney’s Office states Collier wrote out a check stub that falsely stated the amounts of monies spent during a period of time or the reasons why the monies were spent.

Both charges are felony level crimes under Kansas law.

Collier appeared in Barton County District Court July 13 with her attorney, Dennis Keenan. Collier was advised of her charges and the possible penalty for each charge. The preliminary hearing will be scheduled at a later date.

Collier retired from the CVB in December of  2015. When city of Great Bend took over the everyday CVB operations on January 1, 2016, it was discovered that Collier possibly misused funds.