STATE AUDIT OF BOLLINGER COUNTY FAULTS SHERIFF

MARBLE HILL -- Bollinger County Sheriff Januar Peters "misappropriated" at least $5,269 from January 1988 through July 1990, state auditors have said.

Weaknesses in the county government's internal accounting system allowed the sheriff to misappropriate the money, a state audit showed.

Auditors said the sheriff has reimbursed the county for $2,310 of the amount.

A special prosecutor was appointed Jan. 22 to investigate the matter and make a recommendation to the Bollinger County Commission as to restitution of the remaining $2,959 and whether or not to prosecute Peters.

Circuit Judge A.J. Seier appointed the special prosecutor at the request of Paul Hahn, Bollinger County's prosecuting attorney.

"I think everyone agreed it was a prudent decision," said Hahn.

Peters declined to discuss the matter Monday, citing advice from his attorney, David Beeson of Jackson.

Presiding Commissioner Elwood Mouser said Monday that Special Prosecutor Robert Fuchs, a Sikeston attorney and former Scott County prosecutor, is scheduled to report to the county commission next week.

The state audit report was received by county officials three weeks ago, Mouser said. It was publicly disclosed only a few days ago by Missouri Auditor Margaret Kelly.

Mouser said the commissioners are "concerned" about the situation.

He added, "We just don't need the publicity and we don't need the problems."

Mouser said that the commission has tightened accounting procedures, as recommended by state auditors.

The recommendations were adopted in early January, the presiding commissioner said.

The commission, he said, is waiting on the recommendations from the special prosecutor. "We are not going to do anything until the special prosecutor reports back to us."

Auditors discovered that some payments from other political subdivisions for boarding of prisoners in the Bollinger County Jail, and other miscellaneous receipts, had been deposited into the sheriff's personal bank account rather than transmitted to the county's general revenue fund.

At least $5,148 of these funds were deposited in the sheriff's personal account, the audit disclosed.

Auditors said the "misappropriation" included not only prisoner boarding and miscellaneous receipts, but also trustee sales commissions and accident-report and gun-permit fees.

The misappropriated money consisted of: $1,890 in reimbursement for boarding of prisoners, $220 in trustee fees, $48 in accident-report fees charged insurance companies, $121 in gun-permit fees and $2,990 in miscellaneous receipts.

State auditors contacted Peters about the situation.

The sheriff, auditors said, paid back $250 to the county treasury last August. The money reflected a payment by a political subdivision for the boarding of prisoners.

On Nov. 2, Peters paid $60 to the county, "apparently for gun permit monies he had retained," auditors said.

Auditors again discussed the situation with Peters. On Dec. 10, the sheriff paid the county another $2,000, a reimbursement for fees that auditors said had been "improperly retained."

The sheriff has maintained that he retained the $48 received for accident reports and $352 of the miscellaneous receipts as reimbursement for office supplies and bedding for the jail that he had purchased out of his own money, auditors reported.

But the audit report says that Petters has not provided invoices to support these expenditures.

"The sheriff also stated that $2,400 of the miscellaneous receipts was fees due to him as a successor trustee.

"The sheriff has not provided any documentation to support this contention," the audit report notes.

Auditors said these funds should be repaid to the county if Peters is unable to provide adequate documentation to support his claims.

The financial situation "went undetected throughout the audit period due to numerous control weaknesses and manipulation of the system by the sheriff, including a lack of segregation of duties and little or no independent review by the county commission," auditors said.

They noted that Peters did not file a monthly report of collections for March through December 1988 and for the entire year of 1989. "Without the report of fees, the county commission cannot determine if amounts actually turned over are proper," auditors said.

"Prior to January 1988, the sheriff paid for the feeding of prisoners and received applicable reimbursements from the county and other political subdivisions, " the audit report points out.

But in January 1988, the county began paying directly for the feeding of prisoners. "However, the sheriff continued to bill and receive payments from other political subdivisions," auditors said in their report.

"Since the sheriff handled these transactions without any segregation of duties or independent monitoring, monies were allowed to be misappropriated without detection," they said.