©2011 Galesburg Broadcasting Co.
| "Audits," Former Sheriff, Former State's Attorney Under Fire in 2008 |
A long awaited document that the public believed was an audit of the Knox County State's Attorney and Sheriff's offices essentially revealed no serious problems.
The audits, which spanned late 2003 to late 2006, grabbed headlines in 2008 and were ordered following allegations of financial mismanagement by state's attorney John Pepmeyer against former state's attorney and current judge Paul Mangieri and former sheriff Jim Thompson.
The findings were released in June, and while it was believed to be an audit of the two offices, the accountants who conducted it---Carpentier, Mitchell, Goddard and Company of Moline---stated in the report that it wasn't an audit at all, but rather, "agreed-upon procedures." Then Knox County Board Chairman Allen Pickrel told WGIL the report detailed how money was handled and revealed some documentation problems.
"They're more like the bank accounts need to be...go through the treasurer's office instead of being held in, say, the State's Attorney office or in the Sheriffs Department office, them types of things" Pickrel said in June. "Different ways of doing accounting and tracking, just check and balance-type things."
State's Attorney John Pepmeyer responded to the report by saying it clearly shows mismanagement did occur, and that 80-percent of the items sampled in the two departments had documentation that was incorrect or missing. Pepmeyer also blasted the report in part, saying that a forensic audit was originally ordered by the county board and a short report was released.
The report wound up costing the county $62,000, and while Pepmeyer argued it uncovered evidence of corruption, Mangieri and Thompson responded by saying the report cleared them of any alleged wrongdoing. Special Prosecutor William Poncin, who investigated the allegations of mismanagement against Mangieri and Thompson, later said no charges would be brought against either of them.
CLICK HERE to read the special "audit" (in PDF format). |
|
| 01 04 09 by Newsroom |
Click here for the WGIL News Archive
Click here for national news
The following provision applies to all visitors (which shall include persons and representatives of legal entities, whether such representatives are persons or digital engines of a kind that crawls, indexes, scrapes, copies, stores or transmits digital content). By accessing this Web site or digital service, you specifically acknowledge and agree that: (i) Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium; (ii) No Associated Press materials nor any portion thereof may be stored in a computer except for personal and non-commercial use; (iii) The Associated Press will not be held liable for any delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions therefrom or in the transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages arising from any of the foregoing; (iv) The Associated Press is an intended third party beneficiary of these terms and conditions and it may exercise all rights and remedies available to it; and (v) The Associated Press reserves the right to audit possible unauthorized commercial use of AP materials or any portion thereof at any time.
