YELLOW SHEET Office of the State Auditor of Missouri Claire McCaskill

August 28, 2001

Report No. 2001-67

The Eighteenth Judicial Circuit, Associate Division III, Municipal Division, Cooper County, Missouri, is responsible for assessing, collecting, and distributing monies in connection with municipal traffic and ordinance violation cases. 

During March 2001, court officials identified discrepancies in the court’s collection of fines and court costs on a number of municipal ticket cases.  The Associate Division III Judge notified the Cooper County  Sheriff’s Department on April 2, 2001, and requested the matter be investigated.  On April 13, 2001, the Associate Division III Judge contacted the State Auditor’s office regarding this situation.  This audit was performed to review these discrepancies and more fully determine the extent of misappropriated court funds.  

It appears payments totaling at least $11,387 were received and not deposited from 1999 through March 2001.   

A comparison of recorded receipts to deposits during January through March 2001, revealed that cash receipts totaling approximately $2,860 were not deposited.  It appears these monies were misappropriated. 

A total of $8,527, which pertains to eighty-one municipal tickets, appears to have been received by the court, but not properly recorded and deposited.  Numerous alterations were made to the municipal receipt records through the use of “white-out” or by writing over the usual carbon in ink.  The difference between the original and altered amounts were not deposited.  Payments on many other municipal tickets were not recorded on the receipt records or deposited.  For fifteen of the tickets, related to $1,604 of the misappropriation, the defendants provided receipt slips issued by the court showing the full amount of the ticket paid.  For forty of the tickets, related to $3,472 of the misappropriation, the defendants provided either verbal or written statements indicating  the full amount of the tickets paid or there was documentation of the actual payments in the manual case files.  Several of the receipts slips provided by defendants or located in the manual case files had been prepared on plain paper, appeared to have no correlation to the official receipt records, and did not always include the date and method of payment or other pertinent information.  The Associate Division III Judge and court personnel could provide no explanation for the use of these receipts slips.  For the remaining twenty-six tickets, municipal cash bonds, initially receipted by the Boonville Police Department and totaling $3,451, were apparently transmitted to the court, but not properly recorded or deposited into the municipal account. 

Payments on a number of other tickets and bonds do not appear to have been properly handled and we are continuing to follow-up on these transactions.  Documentation in the case files and/or alterations to the municipal records indicate unrecorded payments or payments that differ from the receipt records may have been made and it is likely additional monies related to at least some of the tickets were also misappropriated.  Discrepancies related to these tickets and bonds total approximately $6,465. 

Pamela Potter, the court clerk primarily responsible for handling municipal ticket transactions worked in the court until March 30, 2001, was placed on leave without pay status on April 5, 2001, was terminated on April 12, 2001, and has been charged with and pled guilty to felony stealing. 

The misappropriated funds and other discrepancies noted above were not detected or were not detected on a timely basis, due to various internal control weaknesses, deficiencies in some receipt and case records, and the lack of supervisory review over municipal transactions. 

The duties of receiving, recording, depositing and disbursing monies are not adequately segregated. 

As discussed in a prior report, receipts are not deposited on a timely basis and checks and money orders are not restrictively endorsed immediately upon receipt.  Also, monies on hand are not stored in a secure location prior to deposit. 

Also as discussed in a prior report, bank reconciliations are not prepared for any municipal bank accounts.  In addition, no checkbook balance or book balance is maintained.   

Monthly listings of open items (liabilities) have not been prepared since May 2000.  At March 2001, identified liabilities exceeded the cash balance by approximately $839. 

The transmittal of bond monies from the Boonville Police Department to the court is not thoroughly documented.  In addition, bond monies are not always receipted and deposited timely.

Disbursements to the state, city, and other entities for municipal fines and court costs collected are untimely. 

Records and monitoring procedures of the court and Boonville Police Department to account for traffic and ordinance tickets assigned and issued, and the ultimate disposition, are not adequate.

Complete Audit Report