Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, November 20, 1993 TAG: 9311200210
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
. . . I want to assure the public that in my handling of this account I have violated no laws . . . I welcome the appointment of outside counsel and I will cooperate with his investigation to the fullest extent . . .
When I became Sheriff on September 1, 1974, there were no procedures available through state and local government to provide for the daily operating expenses of my office. The only procedure available to me was for me to pay such expenses by advancing my personal funds, and then request reimbursement. . . . It was apparent that to ensure the efficient operation of my office, I would have to advance personal funds until reimbursement could be obtained. . . .
Upon the advice and direction of Harry Scott [who was employed by the state's auditor of public accounts], I opened the account which is now in question.
Harry Scott further told me to process the office payroll through this account, and I was told that when the payroll cleared the account, the remaining funds were mine. Harry Scott also approved deposit of my personal funds in this account so that funds would be available for daily operating expenses.
In a later audit of the same account, a public auditor approved these same procedures. However, he stated that I should make one modification: that I should write myself a paycheck from this account, then redeposit my paycheck into this same account so that there would be documentation of the amount of the payroll that was my personal salary.
I continued these same accounting procedures . . . until April of this year. This checking account has been audited by the Commonwealth of Virginia and Bedford County . . . for nearly 20 years. Never, within this entire period, has the handling of this account been questioned, nor have I been advised by public auditors, or anyone else, to process these funds differently. . . .
I must also clarify any misapprehension that this checking account has always been an interest bearing account. Until August 27, 1982, this account did not bear interest. Payroll was processed through the account, and once the payroll cleared the account, remaining funds were mine, as stated by Harry Scott. These funds consisted of my personal salary and other personal outside funds that I deposited.
On August 27, 1982, an employee of Bedford Federal Savings and Loan . . . asked me why I did not convert this checking account into an interest bearing account. Believing then, as I still believe, that this was not inappropriate, I requested that this be done. . . .
It has been determined, not by me, but by Bedford Federal Savings and Loan, that the payroll deposited into this account earned interest of $5,626.48 for the relevant period of almost 11 years.
As I have already stated, for years there were no funds, other than my personal funds, to meet daily operating expenses. Until the last several years, I was even denied a petty cash account. As a consequence, when I was required to send a deputy out of state to return an extradited prisoner, I advanced the money for any airline tickets or other necessary travel expenses. For years, when a jury . . . was taken to lunch during a trial, I paid the bill. . . .
These are but a few of the numerous examples of operating expenses that I have advanced on behalf of my office since 1974.
There are those who have accused me of earning interest on public money. I deny this. But if this accusation is true, it would also be true that during the periods when my personal funds were advanced for public expense, the county earned interest on my money until reimbursement was obtained, and I am confident that any such interest would more than equal that which was earned on payroll deposits. . . .
Above all, it should be emphasized that at no point was there a deficiency in this checking account. Of all of the accounts through which I receive and process thousands of dollars . . . there has never been any allegation of misappropriation or misuse. . . . Never, in my nearly 20 years in office, has an employee not been paid, or has a complaint to the contrary been made. Not even my most vocal critics have even suggested that money is missing from this checking account. . . .
by CNB