Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 24, 1993 TAG: 9311240101
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KAREN BARNES STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BEDFORD LENGTH: Medium
But the employee's former boss says he seriously doubts that the sheriff was advised to mix personal and public money.
"I've known the sheriff for years, and I have the greatest respect for him," said Charles Trible, who was the state auditor of public accounts from 1975 to 1984. "But I'd have to question his memory on that."
Trible said the employee, Harry Scott, was "one of the best I ever saw." Scott, an audit supervisor until his retirement in 1980, died in 1986.
"I can't imagine Harry giving advice that would promote commingling money. It's an inherently bad accounting practice," Trible said.
It's also illegal. Under state law, mixing public and personal funds is a misdemeanor.
Financial records Wells released last week, including bank statements and canceled checks, showed that Wells paid personal bills from the payroll account until April.
Eric Sisler, Rockbridge County commonwealth's attorney, was named special prosecutor last week to investigate Wells' handling of the payroll account.
Sisler said Tuesday he hopes to have the matter settled by Christmas but has not decided if he will call for a state police investigation.
In a written statement Friday, Wells said Scott told him to use a personal account to process the payroll.
"Upon the advice and direction of Harry Scott, I opened the account which is now in question," the statement read. "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."
But Trible pointed out that the remaining money in the account at that time wasn't interest, because the account didn't bear interest until 1982 - eight years after Wells opened it. And by then, Scott had retired.
"I just can't imagine Carl Wells using Harry's advice to keep any interest off the account," Trible said.
Walter Kucharski, the current auditor of public accounts, has said that any interest earned by public money should be returned to the county.
Wells denies earning any interest from public funds.
Trible said to retroactively figure out how much interest belongs to Bedford County and how much may belong to Wells would be "like unscrambling an egg."
Wells also said in his statement that he advanced personal money for department expenses under Scott's advice. "Harry Scott also approved deposit of my personal funds in this account so that funds would be available for daily operating expenses."
But Trible questioned this practice. "That's a rather unusual situation," he said.
If state auditors had known of Wells' accounting practices, they should have taken a stronger position on the mixing of private and public money, Trible said. "The unfortunate thing is that it slipped through."
by CNB