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A state auditor’s report finds mishandling of $33,000 in fines collected in Pomeroy
By: WOUB News Team
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ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) — An investigation by the state auditor’s office found that nearly $33,000 in fines were collected the by village of Pomeroy but never deposited.
While investigators concluded the funds had been mishandled, they did not find sufficient evidence to support bringing criminal charges.
The investigation began after village officials raised concerns about a potential theft of funds from the village’s mayor’s court by the former court clerk.
The clerk, who was hired in August 2016, had stopped showing up for work nine months later.
State investigators found that the clerk was not depositing money collected by the mayor’s court in a timely fashion, sometimes only once or twice a month.
Investigators were unable to obtain the necessary records to complete a full forensic audit because the mayor’s court records “were in disarray and incomplete,” according to the investigation report.
However, investigators were able to identify a total of $32,292 that had been collected but not deposited. But because of insufficient evidence they were not able to support bringing criminal charges against the former clerk.
The clerk was not the only person who mishandled mayor’s court receipts, according to the report. A former dispatcher for the Pomeroy Police Department collected $465 in fines that she did not deposit.
Investigators were in the process of seeking criminal charges against the dispatcher when she died.