The call came from inside the courthouse
Veterans committee directed member to contact law enforcement
A sheriff’s department investigation into the former benefit specialist in the Taylor County Veterans Service Office was prompted by a member of the county Veteran Service committee.
County board member Lorie Floyd, on behalf of the entire veterans service committee, is the individual who contacted Sheriff Larry Woebbeking to investigate the shredding of file information and attempt to erase files from the office’s laptop.
In a supplemental report from August 24, Woebbeking stated: “It should be noted that when I spoke with Lorie Floyd on June 22, 2023 in reference to the need for an investigation concerning the shredding of documents by Nikki Sherman, Lorie indicated the Veterans Committee was concerned about the shredding of documents and felt strongly that law enforcement look into the incident to determine if there was an violation of law.
Lorie contacted me to facilitate the investigation because it was the desire of the committee to have the incident investigated. She was aware some time had See VETERANS on page 3 passed, and no one had yet contacted me to start the investigation, so she did.”
While the investigation did not find enough to charge former county veterans benefit special Nikki Sherman with a crime, Taylor County Sheriff Larry Woebbeking’s reports, detail efforts he said worked to undermine the operation of the county veterans service office.
On May 22, Sherman resigned from the county without advanced notice when she did not come into work as scheduled that Monday morning. The night before (Sunday, May 21) she publicly announced her resignation in the form of an email sent to community members, Veterans Service office staff from surrounding counties, and local media. Sherman’s resignation was the third in the two-person office in a 10-month span following the resignation of former Veterans Service Officer Shellie Shaw in August 2022 and Veteran Service Officer Dan Judnic in February 2023.
When current Veterans Service Office Sheila Wundrow arrived at the Veterans Service office on the morning of May 22, the office was described as being “in disarray” with file drawers open and emptied, computer monitors on their side, and two large bags of shredded materials.
In a release from Veterans Service Committee chair Catherine Lemke, she clarifies that Floyd was acting on behalf of the entire veterans service committee in contacting law enforcement.
The release states: “The events that took place leading up to an investigation into former Benefits Specialist Nikki Sherman were well stated in the August 24th edition of the Star News.
There have been questions about who asked for the criminal investigation. Even though the Sheriff was contacted by an individual, it should be made clear that the Veterans Service Committee asked for the investigation.
After the departure of the Benefits Specialist, The County Veterans Service Committee met on June 2, 2023. During this meeting there was a closed session regarding what had been found on the morning of May 22nd. The committee had no idea what had been destroyed and deleted. After much discussion, the committee unanimously requested a Law Enforcement investigation in addition to an appropriate investigation by the county. The individual who made the request was doing so on behalf of the committee.
It is unfortunate that these events occurred, and that the committee felt they needed to ask for a criminal investigation. Our concern is and always has been the needs of our Taylor County veterans.”
