Former state official charged with embezzlement

The former executive director of Nevada's Board of Dental Examiners has been charged with embezzling more than $600,000 from the board.

Valonne Harmon will be arraigned in Clark County Justice Court on five counts of theft, five counts of forgery and three counts of filing a false report.

Senior Deputy Attorney General Brian Kunzi said Harmon is accused of embezzling by forging at least 199 payroll checks over the past five years.

He said she covered up the theft by filing false financial statements to the Dental Board. She at one point told the board it had $692,236 in the bank when an audit of the account showed there was only $4,503 in the account.

The theft charges carry the stiffest potential sentence -- up to 10 years in prison for each count. The forgery counts could result in up to four years prison time apiece.

Filing false reports as a public officer is a gross misdemeanor carrying up to one year in prison.

She has arranged to turn herself in to authorities. No arraignment date has been set in the case.