NATCHEZ — Approximately $5,400 of Concordia Parish Recreation District No. 3’s taxpayer-generated funds were defrauded in 14 transactions in 2012.

In the recreation district’s audit for the 2012 fiscal year, auditors noted the funds were spent at an unnamed nationally owned electronic store.

The money was taken through the drafting of electronic checks.

“The district did not reconcile its bank account on a monthly basis, and did not know that these transactions had taken place until approximately six months after the event,” the audit reads.

The report also states four more similar transactions took place in March and April of 2013, totaling $1,181, bringing the total misappropriated amount to approximately $6,600.

Recreation District No. 3 President Marc Archer said the district board is trying to recoup the money, and the attorney general’s office is actively investigating the matter, which he said was an act of identity theft committed out of state.

“We don’t suspect anybody associated with or related to the recreation board is involved in this,” Archer said. “I am glad we caught it when we did. It is public funds and it wasn’t a lot of money, but $5 is a lot of money to me.”

The audit notes the district has hired a new secretary to perform all accounting functions, and says the secretary will reconcile all bank accounts on a monthly basis and present financial statements at each board meeting.

“We have put checks and balances in place so this won’t happen again,” Archer said. “We have stopped all that for the future so no electronic checks can go through our account.”

The recreation district is an autonomous unit of the Concordia Parish Police Jury and was created in 1958 to own and operate recreational facilities within the area designated to the district.

The district is supported by a tax millage, and the police jury appoints its unpaid seven-member board.

According to the audit, approximately 1,000 youth and adult participants use the district’s facilities in the Vidalia area annually.