Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 9, 1994 TAG: 9404110167
SECTION: NATL/INTL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By ADRIENNE PETTY and LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER NOTE: Lede
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The inquiry showed that Wells mixed his own money with public payroll funds in his personal checking account for years but stopped the practice two months before it became illegal under a 1993 law.
Rockbridge County Commonwealth's Attorney Eric Sisler filed a report Friday afternoon in Bedford County Circuit Court outlining his investigation.
Wells has admitted all along that he deposited payroll funds from the county into his own account before writing checks to his staff - but Sisler's report said he stopped doing so before the new law went into effect July 1, 1993.
``The investigation having determined that the last commingling of funds occurred April 30, 1993, there is no evidence to support any prosecution,'' Sisler wrote.
Earlier newspaper stories had said Wells apparently broke a law against commingling of funds that had been on the books since the 1950s.
Walter Kucharski, the state's auditor of public accounts, said Friday that the old law was vague and did not include specific language about accounts in sheriffs' offices. The law was rewritten shortly after former Bristol Sheriff Marshall Honaker was accused of embezzling thousands of dollars.
It was not known Friday whether Sisler had considered charging Wells under the earlier version of the law. The prosecutor could not be reached for comment.
Sisler's investigation apparently leaves only one remaining issue - whether Wells is entitled to keep about $15,000 in interest generated from the account.
The Board of Supervisors said last week in a lawsuit that the money should be returned to the county's general fund.
But much of the money already has been spent. Sisler's investigation found that Wells used $10,000 in interest earned from the payroll money to buy a used Ford pickup truck in 1989.
That purchase caused the account to be overdrawn by $715.64 for one day in February 1989, the only discrepancy in the account's 11-year history.
Wells has maintained that the interest was his to keep. Citing the pending lawsuit, Sisler wrote in the report that ``a civil forum is the appropriate one'' to settle the issue.
The payroll investigation, coming at the same time as allegations of sheriff's deputies drinking on duty, spurred the most intense criticism Wells has faced in his 20 years as sheriff.
``I'm pleased with the report,'' said Supervisor Lucille Boggess. ``It will be good to put it all behind us and get on with more important things.''
The investigation started almost a year ago after a county audit revealed that Wells mixed the funds in a single personal account.
Each month, the sheriff deposited checks from Bedford County in amounts that ranged from $130,000 to $183,000 and wrote payroll checks to his employees. Wells also deposited his own payroll check into the account and paid household bills from it.
Wells said he commingled the funds on the advice of a state auditor who has since died.
Wells could not be reached for comment Friday.
Boggess, who previously served as the county's commissioner of revenue, said she followed the same practice in writing checks for her employees. However, she established a separate account instead of mixing the payroll funds with her own.
Boggess said she understands why Wells preferred to issue his own checks.
``He liked the idea that the men worked for him and he paid them. He felt like it gave him better control over the employees,'' she said.
by CNB