Pineville Court Missing Money

— With perhaps as much as $20,000 missing from Pineville Municipal Court, the court’s overall performance was rated as poor in an audit released Wednesday by the Missouri State Auditor’s Office.

Between June 2010 and May 2012 cash receipts totaling at least $19,648 were received, but not deposited, according to the audit report. The report also states because of missing records and correspondence with several defendants with cases adjudicated by the court, an additional $1,648 could also be missing.

The audit noted former Court Clerk Andrea Faidley served as Municipal Court Clerk from May 3, 2010, until June 1. Faidley was terminated for reasons not related to the suspected missing money.

City Clerk Melissa Ziemianin took over on an interim basis after Faidley was terminated. While preparing for a June 19 court session, the audit states Ziemianin found case files in disarray, undeposited checks dated months prior and instances where tickets not into the Justice Information System.

The following day, Ziemianin identified money where receipts didn’t appear to be recorded or deposited. City officials contacted Jonathan Pierce, McDonald County prosecutor, after reviewing court records.

Pierce met with Circuit Court Judge Tim Perigo and Erin Willis, Pineville city attorney. Perigo formally requested an audit of Pineville Municipal Court.

Citing the presentation of “substantial, credible evidence” and because of the severity of the allegations of missing money, the state activated the Auditor’s Swift Assessment Program to gather evidence and ensure its preservation.

Thomas A. Schweich, state auditor, activates the program when there may be fraud, violation of state or federal law, rule or regulation or significant misappropriation, mismanagement or waste of public resources.

“It is fairly rare to activate the ASAP or Rapid Response team, which is the same thing,” Schweich said. “In fact, I have only done it twice now. The other time was for the St. Louis School District. There has to be tangible evidence of a fraud.”

Schweich said, since the audit was requested by city and court officials, the costs will be covered by the state.

During the audit, several defendants provided information about their payments. The defendants made cash payments for fines, but either the receipt kept by the city was voided, no receipt was issued or the case was suspended on the computer system, canceling any future case activity and removing the case form the docket. 

Pineville Mayor Pat Beshears said the city will meet with Pierce to see what to do next.

“I have never done this before,” Beshears said. “I don’t know what steps have to be taken to recover some of the lost money. I will do whatever is recommended by the prosecuting attorney and Erin.”

Pierce has reviewed an initial report of the audit and based on that expects to request an investigation into the missing money.

“I anticipate requesting the Missouri State Highway Patrol for an investigation,” Pierce said. “We will go from there based on the results of that investigation if it is approved.”

Beshears said the city has implemented recommendations regarding accounting controls and procedures from the Auditor’s Office. The audit noted money handling duties weren’t segregated from recording transactions with no independent revue of the work, that neither the Pineville Marshal’s Office or the municipal court adequately accounted for the numerical sequence and ultimate disposition of traffic tickets issued, that nothing was in place to ensure ticket information entered in the system always was approved by Wills and the court and city don’t have adequate procedures to track tickets issued on state or federal highways to determine whether excess revenues should be remitted to the state in accordance to state law.

The overall performance of the city court was rated poor. A poor rating indicates the city court needs to significantly improve operation.

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