{"id":35044,"date":"2026-03-19T12:21:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T12:21:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/35044\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T12:21:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T12:21:08","slug":"geneva-county-circuit-clerk-barred-from-office-amid-missing-funds-investigation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/35044\/","title":{"rendered":"Geneva County circuit clerk barred from office amid missing-funds investigation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text | article-text\">Geneva County Circuit Clerk Ashley Powell has been ordered to turn in her keys and is barred from her office while a criminal investigation into missing public funds continues, multiple sources told WTVY News4.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Agents with the Alabama Attorney General\u2019s Office were in Geneva last week gathering evidence, according to sources with direct knowledge of the matter. <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">People familiar with the investigation said Geneva County Presiding Circuit Judge Bill Filmore signed an order several days ago prohibiting Powell from entering the clerk\u2019s office. She was required to surrender her keys and remain away from the office during the investigation, the sources said.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"figure-img img-fluid mx-auto d-block\" alt=\"Geneva County Circuit Clerk Ashley Powell\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/VZXZLOFHINF6DOI6RS5AXPJ65Y.jpg\" width=\"980\" height=\"933\" \/>Geneva County Circuit Clerk Ashley Powell(AOC)<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">This week, employees from Alabama\u2019s Administrative Office of Courts have been working in the clerk\u2019s office to assist staff in Powell\u2019s absence. AOC is not a law enforcement agency. <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Another potential issue could be Powell in her job as clerk has an important role in the election process with state primaries only a couple of months away. It was not immediately clear if the judge\u2019s order affects her in that position. <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Powell was appointed Geneva County circuit clerk in April 2023 and was elected to the position the following year. She could not immediately be reached for comment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">What we don\u2019t know yet<\/p>\n<p>The exact amount of public money investigators believe is missing.The specific allegations investigators are examining.Whether Powell has retained an attorney.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Next steps<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">WTVY will update this story if the attorney general\u2019s office responds and as court records become available.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Download the WTVY News4 app to get alerts and stories the moment they are published. Available for FREE in the <a href=\"https:\/\/apps.apple.com\/us\/app\/wtvy-news-4\/id420970403\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/apps.apple.com\/us\/app\/wtvy-news-4\/id420970403\">Apple App Store<\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/apps\/details?id=com.graytv.android.wtvynews&amp;hl=en_US&amp;gl=US\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/apps\/details?id=com.graytv.android.wtvynews&amp;hl=en_US&amp;gl=US\">Google Play Store!<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"copyright |\">Copyright 2026 WTVY. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Geneva County Circuit Clerk Ashley Powell has been ordered to turn in her keys and is barred from&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35045,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[20718,20719,20716,65,2531,20717],"class_list":{"0":"post-35044","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-geneva","8":"tag-alabama-attorney-general","9":"tag-alabama-attorney-generals-office","10":"tag-ashley-powell","11":"tag-geneva","12":"tag-geneva-county","13":"tag-geneva-county-clerk"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/116255816531270448","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35044\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}