New report from Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick identifies money and weapons missing from the Iron County Sheriff's Office

While former Iron County Sheriff Jeffery Burkett has already resigned from office and been criminally prosecuted for unrelated conduct, a report released today by State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick uncovers new details about Burkett's mismanagement of the Iron County Sheriff's Office. The audit, which gives the office the lowest possible rating of "poor," identifies at least $5,680 in missing money and a disorganized seized property room that contained a mysterious samurai sword that can't be accounted for, as well as missing firearms and live rounds. The report also details how Burkett failed to perform many of the most basic duties of the office.

"Jeffery Burkett's problems have been well-documented by the media, but our report provides new information that makes it clear he failed to perform his duties as sheriff on almost every level. With money missing, seized property that cannot be located, mismanagement of county credit cards, and a failure to perform even the most basic accounting functions, Jeffery Burkett was a disaster as sheriff and deserved to be removed from office even if his criminal issues were disregarded," said Auditor Fitzpatrick. "Thankfully his time in office is over and the Iron County Commission and the new Sheriff are working in good faith to right the wrongs of the past and point the office in a better direction. Our report gives them a solid blueprint to turn things around and I urge them to put all of our recommendations into place to restore trust in the Sheriff's office."

The report identified at least $5,680 in money missing from cash bonds that were not deposited. A review of 263 bond forms written by the Sheriff's office identified 6 bond forms that indicated the Sheriff's office collected cash totaling $5,680 that was not deposited into any Sheriff bank account and could not be traced to a disbursement to a court. The report recommends the Iron County Commission continue working with law enforcement to recover the missing funds.

The audit also found the office did not maintain a complete and accurate seized property inventory listing and did not ensure items in the seized property room were properly secured. The audit haphazardly selected 10 items from the seized property evidence listing to trace to the physical seized property items and 5 items from seized property to trace to the seized property evidence listing. Three items from the evidence listing (a 9 mm handgun with holster and live rounds, two pipes with one gram of marijuana, and a 22 Magnum revolver) could not be located in the seized property room. Also, 3 items found in the seized property room (a large rock, a samurai sword, and a rifle) were not included on the seized property evidence listing.

The audit report also extensively documents the lacking accounting controls and procedures in the office that led to mismanaged bond money, overdrawn bank accounts, questionable purchases, and canceled credit cards with late fees and finance charges. A review of 263 bond forms issued from December 31, 2020, through March 31, 2023, noted the following concerns on 94 bonds: bond money collected but never deposited; court case not identified for collected bond money; illegible, incomplete, and missing bond forms; a bond disbursed before the bond money was collected; and a bond disbursement rejected by the bank because the Sheriff's office bank account did not have sufficient funds. Additionally, the Sheriff's office did not adequately monitor its bank accounts, which led to the Bond and Revolving Fund accounts having balances as low as negative $701 and negative $14,448, respectively. The overdrawn accounts resulted in the county paying overdraft fees totaling $238. The report also found 9 improper purchases, totaling $4,954, with office credit cards and 2 improper cash withdrawals from the Donations account, totaling $308. The disbursements are considered improper because they are either unsupported, were non-fuel purchases made with a fuel card, or the timing indicates more than one vehicle was fueled with the same fuel card. A review of credit card purchases from the period January 1, 2021, through March 31, 2023, found 80 purchases totaling $18,634 that did not have receipt slips submitted to the county. Because of this, the County Clerk's office refused to pay the credit card bills until receiving the required supporting documentation. This led to accumulating balances and late fees and eventually the cancellation of some cards. The county paid $145 in late fees and $680 in finance charges as a result of late or incomplete payments on the Sheriff's credit card bills.

The report also identified issues with procurement procedures in the Sheriff's office. The county paid approximately $50,000 for inmate meals in 2021 and approximately $49,000 for inmate meals in 2022 without soliciting bids. Prior to the former Sheriff taking office, the Sheriff's office paid approximately $21,000 in 2020, meaning food costs increased by approximately $29,000 over the  3-year period of the former Sheriff's administration. Current employees cannot explain why the jail food costs increased during this time period. In addition, the Sheriff's office entered into at least 3 additional contracts for various equipment and services, totaling over $94,000, that were not bid or approved by the County Commission. In addition, the report notes the Sheriff's office lacks adequate controls and procedures to track and account for fuel purchases and fuel purchases increased significantly after the former Sheriff took office. Fuel purchases for the Sheriff's fleet increased from 10,987 gallons in 2020 to 17,274 gallons in 2021 and 18,061 gallons in 2022 (a yearly increase of approximately 57 percent and 5 percent, respectively) and there was no significant change in the departmental fleet size or composition.

Other findings in the audit include the office illegally maintaining an account outside the county treasury to fund a K-9 unit; a failure to review all timesheets and ensure timesheet calculations or vacation and sick leave balances are accurate; an untimely grant application for the Deputy Sheriff Salary Supplementation Fund grant for state fiscal year 2022 resulting in lost revenue to the county; non-existent maintenance of inventory of equipment; and a failure to charge the correct sales tax on e-cigarettes sold to inmates and to remit any sales taxes collected to the Missouri Department of Revenue as required by state law.

The full audit report is available here.