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SUMMARY
In December 2004, La Paz County administrators requested that
the Office of the Auditor General investigate allegations of financial
misconduct by Ms. Dawn James, former administrative secretary for the La Paz
County Parks Department (Department). As a result, our Office conducted an
investigation of those financial improprieties and submitted our report to the
Attorney General’s Office. The Attorney General has presented evidence of Ms.
James’ crimes to the State Grand Jury, which has indicted her on felony charges.
See Conclusion on page 9 of this report.
Our investigation revealed that from May 2002 through
December 2004, Ms. James embezzled at least $84,193. In addition, Ms. James
misused public money by delaying deposits of park revenues totaling $364,387.
Ms. James attempted to conceal her actions through a number of fraudulent
schemes, including falsely representing that park revenues were less than they
actually were and manipulating financial reports. Ms. James used county money to
pay for personal bills and gambling habits.
The County’s lack of internal controls, including an
inadequate segregation of duties, allowed Ms. James to embezzle money received
from park revenues for 2½ years. Specifically, in addition to handling and
depositing all park revenues, Ms. James was responsible for collecting receipt
documentation and recording these transactions on the Department’s internal
accounting ledger called the Recap of Park Income—Monthly. Additionally, Ms.
James was responsible for reconciling account information, including park
revenues, to the accounting ledger postings and the accounting ledger to the
deposit documentation. As a result, Ms. James was able to embezzle public money,
and in turn, the County was unable to deter or detect her thefts prior to
December 2004.
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