Samson case to be heard next week

FORUM FILE PHOTO
Nicki Samson, former manager at NOCOMO Industries, Inc., walks out of the Nodaway County Courthouse after her initial appearance in February. Samson was in court again Tuesday, June 20, for a preliminary hearing. The court found that the state met the burden to prove a crime was committed. The case is set to be heard on Monday, June 26.

MARYVILLE, Mo. — A NOCOMO board member offered more new information during Tuesday’s court proceeding regarding the shifting of $483,000 from the company’s emergency funds into accounts inaccessible by the board.

In testimony during former general manager Nicki Samson’s preliminary hearing at the Nodaway County Courthouse on Tuesday, NOCOMO board secretary Debra Hull reiterated much of her previous testimony from last week’s hearing in the case against former CFO Margaret “Peggy” Helzer.

Samson and Helzer were each charged in February with two felony counts of stealing for allegedly carrying out a plan that moved $483,000 from NOCOMO, a nonprofit sheltered workshop, into accounts accessible by Samson and Helzer without the board’s authorization.

During Tuesday’s hearing, Samson’s attorney Keith Drill spent a good amount of time jumping around to clear up small details including Hull’s knowledge of accounting; what she knew about the Edward Jones adviser who handled the cash balance plan before it was moved into another retirement account at another financial institution on which Samson and Helzer were the trustees; and how minutes are written and approved by the board.

He also asked if the board ever discussed the possibility of news media being at meetings.

“Nicki would tell us that we were subject to the Sunshine Law and media had a right to be there,” Hull said. “Since then, I think that’s incorrect.”

On another topic, Drill noted that while looking at some of the meeting minutes entered into evidence by Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Amy Cloud, he saw that Hull would note the start and end time of each meeting, and that the May 2022 meeting took 31 minutes and the July 2022 meeting took 19 minutes. During neither was retirement funds or a resolution signed by board members in June brought up for discussion, he said. The board only meets every other month per its bylaws, Hull said, and Samson pressed that it was urgent.

A resolution dated June 10 bears three signatures: Hull’s, Board President Sam Mason’s and Board Treasurer Sue Florea’s. According to Hull’s testimony, she received a phone call from Samson about the need to sign a resolution.

“I don’t remember exactly what she said,” Hull told the court. “I just remember her being very urgent.”

She continued saying that they met and Samson said she had an upcoming surgery “and needed to get this pushed through quickly.”

Drill read a portion of the first paragraph of the resolution signed by board members which included: “Be it resolved … that in order to award a long-term, capable staff, the corporation is hereby authorized to initiate the NOCOMO Industries Cash Balance Plan effective July 1st, 2021.”

He asked Hull if she asked Samson any questions about the substance of what was in the resolution at the time she signed it.

“No, I did not have a reason to,” Hull said. “I trusted Nicki.”

Later, Drill returned to this line of questioning and asked if Hull had any reason to doubt what Samson had told her.

“Not at all,” Hull said. “She had managed that facility since 2000. (She) had done a good job, so I had no reason to question her.”

Drill then shifted to ask about the beneficiaries of the cash balance retirement plan.

Earlier in the hearing, Prosecutor Cloud asked Hull to verify that the new account was set up in such a way that the only eligible employees were Samson, Helzer, Samson’s daughter and Samson’s son-in-law — both of whom worked for NOCOMO at the time — along with two intellectually disabled employees who worked at the sheltered workshop and who did not have legal guardians.

However, Drill asked Hull if setting up the plan that way may have been intended to ensure certified employees could stay eligible for any state assistance funds they may have been receiving.

Hull said there’s no way she could know that because she doesn’t know what funding certified employees are receiving outside of NOCOMO.

Drill also asked if Hull knew that the four non-certified beneficiaries were the only full-time, non-certified staff at the facility, so there weren’t others being excluded. She said “correct.”

On another topic, Drill asked Hull if she was aware that Samson didn’t have a job description.

“I’ve not seen a job description,” she said. “… we have the bylaws. … She also has an employee handbook.”

He asked if Hull recalled any board member expressing that Samson might perceive the board let her down because of a lack of a job description.

“I don’t recall a board member saying that,” she said. “I recall Nicki saying that.”

Drill shifted to financials and asked if Hull or anyone on the board asked about an expenditure that came up in a July 2022 board meeting for $4,800 for pension consulting services.

Hull said no.

Drill said the probable cause statement mentions nothing about the resolution signed by board members in June 2022. He repeated that “it defies logic” that Samson would engage consultants to the tune of $4,800 to prepare the plan if her intention was to try to conceal it from the board, and that she would sit in a meeting with an Edward Jones representative and a new financial consultant. He said it defies logic that she would do this when she knew there was going to be an outside audit.

He said that there was “no competent evidence here today as to federal law, retirement laws or anything from which you can draw conclusions about that plan.”

He said all they know is that there was civil resolution and the funds were able to be taken back from the trustees, which at best is an attempt as opposed to a completed crime.

“That … doesn’t make any logical sense unless you’re a criminal mastermind who thinks 300 steps down the road that no one’s gonna figure this out,” he said.

Judge Rice said the court found that Hull’s testimony was credible and clear. He said the court found that the state presented sufficient evidence to show probable cause in the belief that a felony has been committed and that the defendant committed it.

Samson’s next court date is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on Monday, June 26 at the Nodaway County Courthouse. Helzer’s case is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on the same day.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The story “Timeline, new details emerge in NOCOMO theft” that appeared in the June 15 edition of The Forum mischaracterized the relationship of DeMars Pension Consulting Services to the accounts associated with NOCOMO. DeMars only provided consulting services. The Forum apologizes for the error.