Audit uncovers mismanagement in sheriff ’s finances
NORMAN — Widespread financial mismanagement within the Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office has created cash flow problems and resulted in employees driving 48 vehicles that were not insured, a state audit has found.
Sheriff Joe Lester sued Cleveland County commissioners in March, accusing them of violating state law by failing to fully fund detention center operations.
However, many of the sheriff’s funding problems appear to be selfinflicted, according to an audit released Monday by State Auditor and Inspector Gary Jones.
From September 2016 through March 2017, the sheriff’s office failed to timely bill the Oklahoma Department of Corrections for $243,837 that the county was owed for housing state prisoners, auditors said.
The failure to bill by the sheriff’s office came at a time when Lester was complaining to commissioners that they were not giving him adequate funding.
“The Board of County Commissioners has grave concerns regarding the truthfulness of representations made by Sheriff Lester that are reflected in the minutes of the County Budget Board meetings for
for March 13 and March 20,” Board Chairman Darry Stacy said in behalf of the board in a management response that was included with the audit.
The audit has revealed that Lester made “demonstrably false” representations to the board regarding billing and receivables from entities such as the Corrections Department and city of Norman, Stacy wrote in the audit response.
The sheriff’s office later billed the state and received payment in April.
“We’ll be discussing options with the district attorney’s office,” Stacy said Monday, adding that the audit “speaks for itself.”
Lester could not be reached for comment Monday. His attorney, Michael Denton, said he had not yet had a chance to read the audit or discuss it with his client, so he was not in a position to comment. Untimely billing was just one of a multitude of problems that auditors uncovered within the sheriff’s office.
Forty-eight vehicles that sheriff’s employees were driving didn’t have insurance, auditors said, noting the vehicles had an original cost of $993,829.
Making matters worse, 37 vehicles that had been disposed of were still listed on the county’s insurance policy, auditors said.
Auditors blamed “inadequate internal controls over fixed assets” for the problem.
Following are some of the auditors’ other significant findings:
• The sheriff’s office failed to maintain accurate head counts of its detention center inmates, resulting in the county being “overcharged for medical services in the amount of $162,517.”
• The sheriff’s office collected a $20 release fee on vehicles that were towed by a wrecker service that had a contract with the county, but auditors said they could find no legal authority to collect that fee.
• The county lost $4,212 due to a failure to timely bill for Department of Corrections Community Sentencing from September 2016 through March 2017. That money is no longer collectible because invoices must be submitted within 10 days after the month’s end, auditors said.
• Commissary profits totaling $204,355 were not deposited in a timely manner.
• Daily deposits were not made by the sheriff’s office, as required by state law.
• The sheriff’s office increased payroll expenses by failing to follow the county’s annual leave and compensatory time policy for employees. Employee scheduling was done in a way that “perpetually results in overtime for all employees,” auditors said.
• Since February 2013, the sheriff’s office has failed to set an inmate incarceration rate to be used in determining the total cost per day of housing inmates. Because of that failure, the sheriff is out of compliance with state law and at risk of not charging the proper rate, auditors said.
• The sheriff’s office did not follow the state statute for hiring outside counsel when it hired Denton to represent Lester in the lawsuit against the Cleveland County Board of Commissioners.
• A K-9 dog was bought by the sheriff’s office without following proper purchasing procedures.
• Financial discrepancies were discovered within the Inmate Trust Checking Account, which had a negative cash balance of more than $20, 800 as of March 21.
“The sheriff does not have policies and procedures in place to ensure proper oversight of the financial and compliance operations of the office,” auditors said. “The sheriff created a debt for his office and the county in violation of state law.”