$33,000 repaid to DSS but overlooked

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Mecklenburg County's investigation into alleged misspending at a Christmas charity for children took a surprising twist Tuesday: Officials said a county employee returned more than $33,000 months ago, but auditors didn't account for it.

The finding raised new questions about the months-long probe, including why it took so long for administrators to learn about the money and why so much had been advanced to a county employee. Auditors said the worker had spent some of it on personal items.

County Manager Harry Jones said he was "damned embarrassed" by the latest information.

Commissioners, stunned by the revelations, said scrutiny of the Department of Social Services has eroded public confidence. They ordered a study of how to improve ethics throughout county government.

"I can't help but be baffled," Commissioner Dan Murrey said. "What we have done is confuse the public more."

The county's internal auditor told commissioners it was not until the past week that officials realized the returned money helped explain some of the $162,000 spent on the Giving Tree program that had not been fully accounted for.

But the auditor stood by her earlier report that said officials can't be certain where the bulk of the money went.

"I'm disappointed that we did not catch this earlier," Jones told county commissioners.

The county frequently advanced money to employees to help buy gifts for needy children, with receipts expected to document how the money was spent.

It wasn't immediately clear how much the employee who returned money had been given in the past, but it included at least two $10,000 checks made out in December and January, according to an internal memo released to commissioners Tuesday.

The money returned by the employee in February and March helped cover those checks, the memo stated, as well as other unspent money or funds meant to account for "personal purchases that were inadvertently included amongst receipts."

The employee also returned earrings and a DVD player whose costs drew concerns from management, and reimbursed the cost for the items.

The county did not identify who returned the money, only saying it was a former employee who had worked with the Giving Tree program for about 10 years.

A police investigation into the Giving Tree program is ongoing.

Murrey said an accounting error has unnecessarily harmed public perceptions about county government.

Commissioner Karen Bentley and other commissioners said they had received numerous complaints from citizens about DSS in recent months. Bentley reassured residents that she would look into concerns and seek answers to questions about accountability.

Commissioners Bill James said Tuesday's news only raises more questions.

James suggested that the employee only returned the money to escape punishment. He alluded to widespread problems with missing and altered receipts and said the county should investigate whether wrongdoing occurred in previous years.

Worker raised questions

The Giving Tree probe started earlier this year after a DSS employee raised questions about "large dollar" checks that had been written to a worker who managed the program, the county has said.

Two workers connected to the Giving Tree effort were suspended with pay. One was reinstated this summer, while the other had been put on medical leave.

Cindy Brady, a former DSS supervisor who collected donations for the Giving Tree program retired in August. But county officials have never said whether she was one of the two suspended employees.

Reached Tuesday, Brady said she had been advised by an attorney not to comment about the DSS issue.

In June, county auditors said they'd collected about $138,978 in receipts related to the Giving Tree.

But the county said they couldn't provide complete assurance that the money was spent properly because more than 99 percent of the receipts had problems, including information that had been altered or whited out.

That left about $23,310 that officials said they could not account for.

On Tuesday, Internal Audit Director Cornita Spears told commissioners that she received "clarifications" about how much money the employee had returned to the county.

Spears said the county had previously recorded some money the unnamed employee had returned to reimburse money used for personal items.

However, Spears said she learned last week that more money had been returned, but determined it had not been properly recorded in the earlier Giving Tree review.

Spears said the new information didn't change the overall findings of the June report.

Jones said that while he believed the county had made an "unacceptable error," he said county management had called for the various DSS audits, recommended changes and had not hidden information about the probes.