Stewart to be arraigned Tuesday in Madison County Court

MADISON, Neb. – The former director of a northeast Nebraska transit operation will be in court for his arraignment Tuesday.

Former North Fork Area Transit Director Jeffrey Stewart was arrested Friday morning on theft charges in Brownsville, Texas. Authorities had been searching for him since December.

Stewart had been the subject of a Madison County felony warrant for theft as a result of an investigation by the Madison County Sheriff's Office, during which he was accused of embezzling between $750,000 and $1 million from the transit service. Stewart is accused of embezzling money for flights, purchases at casinos, meals at area restaurants, home goods and more, all for personal use, according to investigators.

In a 59-minute phone call from Mexico a day prior to his arrest last week, Stewart confirmed to News Channel Nebraska that he planned to turn himself into authorities Friday morning. He was then flown back to northeast Nebraska and will be in Madison County Court Tuesday afternoon.

“I finally decided enough is enough,” Stewart said in the phone call last week. “I’ve never been running from the Madison County Sheriff. I did not come in contact with them until recently, about two weeks ago, at which point I had been working with them to arrange turning myself in to get this matter resolved.”

North Fork Area Transit was unable to make payroll on Dec. 16, requiring the organization to seek $88,155.59 from the Norfolk City Council.

The service was forced to cease operations on Jan. 6 due to a lack of funds. Operations resumed in the spring after a successful fundraising campaign brought in $1 million -- $500,000 from the community and a matching $500,000 donation from the Johnny Carson Foundation.

Stewart said the funds that had been reported missing from North Fork Area Transit had to do with longer wait times for reimbursement from the Nebraska Department of Transportation.

Stewart claimed that after an audit review of NDOT’s invoicing process for transit agencies, reimbursement began to take much longer. He said that coincided with the transit agency’s growth, leading to a shortage of cash on hand.

Among the documents filed in Madison County as part of Stewart’s case are bank statements with alleged purchases made by Stewart, including a series of 13 purchases at two different casinos over a five-day period in April of 2022. Those alleged purchases totaled $28,739.93.

When asked about those specific purchases, Stewart said he would like to speak to the county attorney and see the alleged charges line-by-line before commenting. When asked if he had ever made purchases with his company card at the Hard Rock Casino or Prairie Flower Casino, Stewart stated that he had made “authorized” transactions at those locations.