Judge, prosecutor will decide soon on grand jury in Miss. Co. case

~ A reported $23,000 was missing from the county's detention center, according to a state audit.

Circuit Judge David Dolan and Mississippi County Prosecutor Darren Cann will meet soon to decide whether to convene a grand jury to investigate money shortages at the Mississippi County Detention Center.

Dolan and Cann said Monday that they discussed the grand jury request last week, but no decision was made. Dolan, the presiding judge for the 33rd Circuit, must approve any call for a grand jury.

He would not say whether he is leaning in favor of or against the grand jury.

"I don't think it is proper for the judge to advise the newspaper that he is calling a grand jury," Dolan said.

A grand jury investigation may be the only way to get the facts about money shortages at the jail, Cann said Monday.

A meeting to decide the question could be held as early as next week, Cann said.

Cann asked for a grand jury to consider dozens of drug cases and other issues in early September. On Nov. 1, he wrote Dolan that the body should also look at money problems at the jail.

"The citizens are very concerned about this matter -- and rightly so," Cann wrote. "This volume of calls makes it evident to me that the citizens of Mississippi County are demanding this matter be vigorously, thoroughly and completely investigated and prosecuted."

Problems at the jail first surfaced last year during a routine state audit of county finances. Investigators from State Auditor Claire McCaskill's office discovered that the commissary fund -- the account holding revenue from sales of snacks and telephone access to prisoners -- had a severe shortage.

The bookkeeping was hard to follow, auditors reported, but the shortage was approximately $23,000. It could be higher, auditors said, because of questionable procedures for handling money and poor tracking of snack sales.

The account used to hold prisoner's personal funds was also questioned. Cash received by the jail on behalf of prisoners didn't match the amounts given to the inmates or the amounts placed in the bank for safekeeping, auditors noted.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol investigated the jail administration, but the grand jury will allow a more complete review, Cann said. Anyone appearing before the grand jury can assert the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, but otherwise they cannot refuse to cooperate, Cann said.

Highway patrol spokesman Larry Plunkett did not return a call Monday.

Grand juries can issue criminal charges or subpoena witnesses to testify under oath about possible crimes. They meet in secret and decide whether there are grounds to file charges, not the guilt or innocence of suspects. Under Missouri law, a grand jury can work on cases for up to six months.

"A judge can order them to testify," Cann said. A grand jury " is really good for getting to the bottom of something of this nature."

The jail administration changed hands with the election of a new sheriff last fall. Don Chance, who was jail chief from the time the facility opened in 1999, was defeated in the August Democratic primary by Keith Moore, who was chief deputy in the sheriff's department.

Moore has pushed for the grand jury investigation. Chance, who resigned shortly before Moore took office in January, said last week that he was unaware of any large-scale thefts. The shortages, he said, are most likely the result of computer glitches associated with the pay telephones available to inmates.

Both Chance and former sheriff Larry Turley said they believe the investigation is an effort by political rivals to discredit them.

The Mississippi County Commission approved $5,000 in late September to pay a grand jury's expenses.

If a grand jury is convened, Cann wrote to Dolan, he will present the case himself. The case has previously been handled by a special prosecutor because when the investigation began then-prosecutor Jennifer Raffety had a conflict.

"I do not have a social or professional relationship with the former employees of the Mississippi County Detention Center," Cann wrote.

Cann was appointed to replace Raffety last year after she resigned to marry and move out of state.

Explanations that the shortages can be accounted for through bookkeeping errors or computer problems are hard to believe, Cann said.

"According to the audit, there is a substantial amount of money missing," he said. "In my life experience, I know money doesn't just get up and walk away."