We Are Gathered Here Together – The Not So Dearly Departed

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When it looked like she was caught with her hand way down deep in the cookie jar, Shannon Clinkscales had a heart attack and dropped dead. After all, who’s going to chase a dead woman?

The Tacoma Housing Authority, that’s who.

Clinkscales and her husband were resident managers at a 68-unit apartment complex owned by the housing authority. She kept books, rented out the units, collected rents, answered calls and tenant complaints, etc; he took care of the maintenance needs for the complex.

Problems became apparent when a new manager took over. About a dozen apartments that Clinkscales had listed as vacant were actually occupied. When the new manager attempted to evict the people from the supposedly unoccupied units, the residents produced receipts showing they had turned over cash to Clinkscales. A total of $27,000 was unaccounted for, so the management company went looking for Shannon Clinkscales.

“She’s dead,” said her husband; “she had a heart attack and died.”

Dead people usually have funerals, however, and the housing authority became suspicious when no one had heard of any burial services. They were also suspicious because the alleged widower’s story kept changing. But when someone actually saw the dead lady walking around, police were called and an investigation was begun.

Clinkscales may or may not be the person she represented herself to be when she got the job. Both her driver’s license and her social security number were bogus, allowing her to sail through the management company’s background check prior to getting the job.

For now, the police plan to issue a warrant for Clinkscales’ arrest. Wanted, dead or alive…

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