Vicky Kellogg - Village Clerk for Herman

Vicky Kellogg, the village clerk for Herman has been charged with two felonies and a misdemeanor for allegedly using village money for personal purchases.

While reviewing the Village of Herman’s fiscal year 2025 audit waiver request, Nebraska Auditor of Public Accounts Mike Foley’s staff noted that, between October 1, 2024, and February 26, 2026, the Village Clerk appears to have used a municipal credit card to make 39 personal purchases, totaling $2,029.76. An electric toothbrush, medications, toiletries, shampoo, and dozens of other items of an obvious personal nature were purchased.

The Clerk claimed that the purchases occurred accidentally because the municipal credit card was saved to her own personal accounts at both Walmart and Amazon, which she uses periodically to procure goods for the Village. Nevertheless, the APA noted that several of the Clerk’s personal Walmart purchases were over the-counter transactions, which would have required her to produce the physical card to complete them. Moreover, despite having reimbursed the Village a portion ($784.32) of her personal expenditures prior to inquiry by Foley’s office, the Clerk failed to reveal that fact – or even the true nature of the underlying purchases – until after the auditors requested the Village’s credit card statements.

For the remaining $1,245.44 of ostensible personal purchases for which no reimbursement appeared to have been made, the Clerk claimed originally that she had planned not to cash her outstanding Village paycheck from September 2025. The auditors found, however, that the paycheck was cashed shortly after being issued. The Clerk then stated that she had been referring instead to her December 2025 paycheck – which, as Foley’s team soon discovered, had also been cashed soon after issuance.

In addition to criminalizing theft via the unauthorized use of a credit card, State law expressly prohibits both the improper use of a political subdivision’s purchasing card and the expenditure of public funds for a private purpose. Consequently, the APA forwarded this information to the Nebraska Attorney General, the Washington County Attorney, and the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission for further review.

Foley’s audit letter emphasizes that not only this issue but also other serious concerns addressed in previous examinations by his office – including a potential scam and possibly fraudulent credit card charges addressed in an April 1, 2025, letter to the Village – indicate an ineffective control environment that increases the risk of ongoing fraud or misuse of municipal funds.