School board member charged with theft

A mem­ber of the Clark County Board of Education was arrest­ed and incar­cer­at­ed June 24 on a theft charge. As of 4 p.m., Ashley Ritchie-Rowland was still being held pend­ing bond.

The inci­dent is unre­lat­ed to Clark County Public Schools, accord­ing to Superintendent Dustin Howard, who said the sys­tem “is aware of a sit­u­a­tion regard­ing an elect­ed sit­ting CCPS board member.”

“Please note that the alle­ga­tions are NOT regard­ing ser­vice on the CCPS board. No alle­ga­tions have been made against Clark County Public Schools,” he texted.

The Clark County Detention Center’s web­site reports that Ritchie-Rowland is charged with theft by unlaw­ful tak­ing or dis­po­si­tion between $10,000 $1 million.

She was booked at 11:37 a.m. Her bond is set at $70,000 cash.

The long­time school board mem­ber and for­mer chair rep­re­sents District 5.

WinCity Voices called Kentucky State Police Post 7 in Richmond and emailed the pub­lic infor­ma­tion offi­cer, Justin Kearney, just after 4 p.m., but the mes­sages were not imme­di­ate­ly returned, and no press release was yet available.

A copy of the report has not yet been request­ed. The news site is look­ing into an alle­ga­tion that anoth­er board mem­ber was also involved, but that mem­ber was not an inmate at the jail as of Wednesday afternoon.

WinCity Voices has also emailed the school board’s attor­ney, Rebecca McCoy, but has not yet heard back from her.

According to a report on the Winchester Sun’s web­site Wednesday, the alle­ga­tion involves the Winchester Youth Soccer League. The news­pa­per obtained a war­rant of arrest signed by the Kentucky State Police:

During 5/1/2023 thru 11/30/2025 in CLARK County, Kentucky, the above named defen­dant (Ritchie-Rowland) unlaw­ful­ly: com­mit­ted the offense of Theft by Unlawful Taking of Disposition, $10,000 or more but less than $1,000,000 in vio­la­tion of KRS 514.030, a Class C felony, when she unlaw­ful­ly took or exer­cised con­trol over mov­able prop­er­ty of anoth­er, name­ly funds belong­ing to Winchester Youth Soccer League with the intent to deprive Winchester Youth Soccer League thereof.