Errors found in inmate trust fund

NORMAN — The Cleveland County inmate trust fund, which came under scrutiny earlier this year because of a deficiency, is close to being reconciled, according to the state auditor’s office.

Some problems, however, remain unresolved with the account, Marla Latham told county commissioners Monday.

The sheriff’s office has until June 30 to clear up any discrepancies before a new fiscal year begins, the representative from the auditor’s office said.

The account was reported to be more than $20,000 short earlier this year. However, Latham said, part of that problem is because money was transferred into a new account while checks continued to be cut on the other account.

“They didn’t properly close out the other account,” she said.

Latham could not say how much the account is short because auditors were continuing to work with the sheriff’s office to verify what checks were legitimately cut on the account.

Sheriff Joe Lester said a criminal investigation is ongoing because detectives believe one or more inmates may have copied check information, cut their own checks and cashed them.

Latham reported on the status of the overall audit of the account to commissioners at their weekly business meeting Monday. She said some of the problems stem from a lack of oversight of the account.

Ideally, she said, profits from commissary sales should be transferred from the inmate trust account into a sheriff’s department account daily, or, at least, weekly. That apparently was not done, she said.

Profits built up and were not transferred in a timely manner, she said, “but we are working on getting that done now.”

The inmate trust account consists of money deposited into it by inmates while they are incarcerated or are funds taken from them upon their arrest and kept for them in an account until they spend it or request it back upon release.

The account is inmate money until an inmate buys something and generates a profit, Latham said. Profits are then supposed to be deposited in a sheriff’s office account and becomes money that can be used by the sheriff for operating expenses, she said.

Profits should be transferred on a daily, or weekly, basis, and that was not done, she said.

Auditors have warned annually since about 2008 that the account is subject to abuse if not properly monitored.

Lester, who took over as sheriff in 2009, said his office is meticulously going over between 4,000 to 4,100 checks written by inmates on the account since an investigation into a shortage began.

The sheriff said he is confident it will get reconciled.