A former employee of the Highlands Sports Complex, pictured here, is accused of trying to steal almost $29,000 from customers of the facility. (File Photo)

The case of a former employee allegedly stealing nearly $29,000 while working at The Highlands Sports Complex is now before Ohio County Circuit Court.

Kelly Michelle Clutter, 47, had been set for a hearing before Magistrate Tom Howard Thursday morning. Howard said the hearing was waived, and the case had been sent to Circuit Court.

The last scheduled court appearance for Clutter was June 6, 2025. The matter was continued at that time.

Clutter was the food and beverage hospitality manager at The Highlands Sports Complex from April 2021 until her termination in June 2024. She was responsible for scheduling and collecting payments for birthday parties at the facility.

She is accused of using a Square account to fraudulently take payments from customers for birthday parties at the sports complex. According to the criminal complaint, the Highland Sports Complex’s general manager said the complex did not use Square to complete transactions.

According to the complaint, investigators reviewed transactions Clutter allegedly made on multiple square accounts, which included transactions labeled “birthday party balance” and “party deposit.”

The complex had not received any payment for the 77 transactions in which customers’ cards were allegedly used on Clutter’s Square accounts to pay for birthday parties.

Of those 77 transactions, there were 47 that were allegedly successfully charged for a total amount of $18,584.78, and 30 that were allegedly attempted to be charged but were unsuccessful for a total amount of $10,125.92

Seifert also found a bank account with Bancorp allegedly linked to Clutter in the Square account information.

The deposits made from each Square account were compared to the deposits made to Clutter’s Bancorp account, and it was found that Clutter had allegedly successfully deposited a total of $14,766.76 from all Square accounts that were used to take payment for birthday parties to her own personal Bancorp banking account.

These transactions allegedly occurred over a time period of December 2023 until she was terminated from the complex in June 2024, according to the complaint.