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Fmr. Visitors Bureau Director Repays Fraudulent Charges
< < Back toThe former executive director of the Ross-Chillicothe Convention and Visitors Bureau repaid more than $6,500 in misspent public funds after an audit found she made fraudulent charges.
According to a report from the Ohio Auditor, Krysten Walton was accused of failing to follow bureau policy with regards to the reimbursement of funds for travel expenses.
Auditor Dave Yost says Walton was reimbursed for using her personal credit card for bureau business travel for the amount of $1,1819 and filed expense reports using the bureau's credit card for $3,700 during the same time frames in 2010 and 2011.
Yost also listed Walton made alcohol purchases totaling $130 in 2011, which he calls an incorrect use of public funds.
Walton also charged the bureau's card for airfare to and from Washington D.C. and claimed mileage for her personal vehicle the same trip.
“You take almost $2,000 in ineligible gas purchases and nearly $4,000 in undocumented credit card spending, and it adds up to a problem,” said Yost. “You can ask the taxpayers to buy a plane ticket or you can ask the taxpayers to reimburse your driving miles—but you can’t do both on the same trip.”
Walton repaid the bureau's general fund in full at the end of October.
She is no longer the executive director of the bureau. An employee who answered the bureau's phone said the new director started in August.