Money returned shortly after

On Wednesday, representatives of the Great River Raffle reported a large amount of ticket money stolen, but within hours, the money had been returned.

The report, filed with the Ironton Police Department, said about $6,700 had been taken by one of the vendors, who sold tickets during the raffle this summer.

“Once the police report was filed the money was paid,” Jon Ferguson, with the GRR committee, said. “The person in question was contacted by the police and promptly paid thereafter.”

The raffle committee set out to sell a minimum of 5,000 tickets at $100. That revenue was to cover the cost of the prizes, which ranged from cars, ATVs, firearms and cash, with the top prizes being $50,000 and $25,000. Any money raised above what was needed to pay for the prizes was slated to go into the community.

The minimum number of tickets was not sold, at which time the GRR committee began issuing refunds in September.

Ferguson said the theft did not impact the refund process.

“We (the Friends of Ironton) covered the funds then,” he said. “That was all the more reason we needed to get our money back.”

Ironton Police Detective Chad Gue said he spoke with the suspect following the report being filed.

“I spoke with the alleged suspect and advised her of the complaint and she stated she would make arrangements to return the money,” Gue said. “They worked out the arrangement. … As of this time there is nothing further for us to file criminally.”

Despite the trouble, Ferguson said he was pleased with the end result.

“It has a happy ending because we didn’t have to go through the whole process,” he said.