Washington County: Audit identifies more than $1.5M in uncollected cash

By CHRISTINE HAINES

chaines@yourmvi.com

More than $1.5 million in mandatory fines, fees and other charges went uncollected by the Washington County Clerk of Courts office between Jan. 1, 2016, and Dec. 31, 2019, according to the state Auditor General’s office.

That was the result of the improper use of community service and jail time credit adjustments, one of eight findings of the audit report.

The audit also showed the misappropriation of $97,576, most of which had already been addressed by the county through the arrest of the former Clerk of Courts Frank Scandale, who has since pleaded guilty to the embezzlement. 

Other findings include inadequacies in:

• Internal control over receipts.

• Voided receipts procedures.

• Internal controls over the bank account.

• Internal control over manual receipts.

• Segregation of duties.

• Assessment of fines, costs and fees.

According to the report, some of the conditions have been ongoing and corrective measures were recommended in previous audit reports for bank account controls, manual receipts, the use of community service and jail time credits and for the assessment of fines, costs and fees.

The current clerk of courts, Brenda Davis, took over Jan. 6, 2020, and was not in office during the audit period. She told auditors that several practices that had been flagged have been changed and others are under review.  

“I run my office by the statutes, rules and regulations as governed by the state of Pennsylvania,” Davis said in a news release.

She did not return calls requesting an interview Friday. 

In the item regarding inadequate segregation of duties, the audit indicates that Davis said that starting in March 2020 staff members were being cross-trained for various duties, but her requests for additional staffing had been denied by the county salary board.

Diana Irey Vaughan, chair of the county commissioners, who serve as the salary board, confirmed that Davis requested additional staffing, said she but did not provide proof of an increased workload to justify the added expense in the office.

“Some of that is processes within the office. It shouldn’t be interpreted as not enough people,” Irey Vaughan said.

According to the message on the office phone, as of June 1, the Clerk of Courts office no longer handles fines, fees, court costs or restitution. Those payments are now handled by the collections department in the Adult Probation office.

“I applaud the current clerk of courts, Brenda Davis, for implementing new internal controls to ensure that all payments are properly recorded, deposited and remitted,” state Auditor General Timothy L. DeFoor said. “Having strong internal controls in place helps to greatly reduce the risk of fraud.”

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