Police Chief & Two others "mis-appropriate" $80,000 from tiny city in Oklahoma

Elected government officials can learn from reported cases of fraud in local government.

 

This link is to a story where a police chief and two others in the small town of Tryon, OK, population 500, embezzled over $80,000 over several years. The city's total annual budget was about $200,000.

One lesson is that the elected officials apparently didn't exercise any type of oversight on the spending.

"Oklahoma State Auditor and Inspector Cindy Byrd released her audit of the town of Tryon, between Stillwater and Chandler, on Thursday. She identified a total of $95,000 in misappropriated town funds via unauthorized and personal charges, according to a news release."

• Funds were withdrawn from city accounts via local casinos
• "In her audit, Byrd faulted not only the employees who benefited from the misappropriations but also the governing board for the town." "This "Town" Board was just asleep at the wheel."
• The Police Chief, Jered Pricket, is alleged to have made most of the personal transactions, including $3,700 in "questionable credit card expenditures," including deer hunting supplies.
• The "misappropriation" was 13% of Tryon's annual budget.
• “Donations made to the Tryon Police Department, totaling $3,960, were not deposited into the Town’s bank account,” Byrd wrote in the release.
• "According to the report, Prickett appears responsible for $86,919 of the $95,252 total misappropriations. He reportedly purchased firearms that remain unaccounted for, including three Glock 9 mm pistols, a .40-caliber Glock pistol, a Remington Model 700 M40 rifle and a Ruger 6.5 Creedmor bolt-action rifle."
• "The audit also says Prickett’s wife was inappropriately appointed town clerk-treasurer, and she is named in the report as having received about $5,000 in misappropriated city funds."
• “The Board must become part of the internal control process by providing the increased oversight required in order to protect town assets.” (Note: The Audit was, however, requested by the Town Council.)

The lesson learned is that elected officials of government, as well as staff or Boards of any organization, need to be more control-focused and provide oversight on spending.

 

My comments (Vance Jochim):

The report also describes how employees would take vacation leave but not record it in personnel records, thus building a higher vacation balance which policies then let them claim pay for half of the vacation leave not used. One of my first internal audits was the County of Los Angeles, and that is exactly what we found happening in the time records of many retiring employees. And they got paid for ALL "unused" vacation and sick time. (years ago).

 

My overall comment is that citizens need to stop voting in stupid officials who do not understand or ensure proper financial and management controls are in place. There needs to be a fiscal oversight certification for any elected official so they don't avoid fiscal and control issues.

 

Here is the link to the official OK State Audit Report:

https://www.sai.ok.gov/Search%20Reports/database/Town%20of%20Tryon%20Web%20Final.pdf

 

Story Source for this post (TulsaWorld.com):

https://tulsaworld.com/news/state-and-regional/crime-and-courts/state-auditor-spotlights-ex-police-chiefs-financial-misdeeds-in-small-oklahoma-town/article_a67e0044-851e-11ec-a915-0bcc30af5b5a.html

 

Vance Jochim

352-638-3578

Tavares, FL

Lake County, FL Fiscal Watchdog blogger - FiscalRangers.com

Retired Fortune 500 Internal Audit Manager, anti-corruption manager

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