Another public employee theft noted in St. Martin audit

The City of St. Martinville was red-flagged by the Office of the Louisiana Legislative Auditor for “inadequate controls over Utility Fund collections” after an employee “misappropriated” about $1,200 from the fund during the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2014.
According to a report released Jan. 19 by Legislative Auditor Daryl Purpera, the misappropriation was discovered during an audit performed for the state auditor by the Breaux Bridge accounting firm of Kolder, Champagne, Slaven and Co.
The employee who took the money is not identified in the audit.
“Because the employee paid restitution and because a lie detector test was administered to verify that the misappropriation was an isolated incident, no legal charges were filed,” the audit report states.
The report says further that the employee is still employed by the city, but was demoted and no longer has access to cash or other funds.
The report pointed out that St. Martinville did not have adequate controls in place in order to ensure the proper handling of collections of certain revenues in the utility fund.
Purpera’s office also took notice of the theft of at least $19,935 in funds from St. Martin Senior High, reported in the Jan. 14 issue of Teche News.
In that case the employee resigned and entered the 16th Judicial District Attorney’s Pretrial Diversion Program, described by the DA’s office as “an alternative to prosecution for qualifying non-violent offenders...” The offender pays the DA’s office directly, is supervised by the office while meeting certain conditions, and avoids a criminal record.
The school theft came to light in an audit by Kolder, Champagne, Slaven and Co. for the St. Martin School Board.
The board was also cited by auditors for not adopting its budget by the Sept. 15 deadline that state law requires.