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ELLERY – The Post-Journal is reporting Thursday that Chautauqua county district attorney David Foley will soon be investigating the Town of Ellery for misappropriation of more than $60,000 in funding by the town clerk’s office.
A recent audit by the New York State Comptroller’s Office found that former Ellery town clerk Sharon Thompson allegedly tampered with the town court’s cash collection process during the audit period of January 2009 to August 2014.
Specifically, the report alleges that Thompson manipulated records and misappropriated funds under the purview of two town justices who failed to provide proper oversight of their financial activity.
The audit also says that no monthly accountabilities were performed and no annual audits were conducted since July 2011.
As a result, the Ellery Justice Court now has a $63,636 cash shortage.
The audit also found the court still had approximately 6,800 tickets pending payment – some dating as far back as 1983. The report states:
“The Justices also did not review the “partial pay due” report from the Court’s computer system to determine if fines are being paid in a timely manner and to question those that were not. We obtained the report as of March 11, 2014 that showed there are currently 3,685 outstanding cases totaling $462,216 in unpaid fines in the system. Of these, 3,635 outstanding cases totaling $454,335 had a date prior to 2014.”
Thompson was officially terminated from her position on Feb. 14, 2014.
In a letter to the state comptroller, Ellery town supervisor Arden Johnson said that the town board is aware of the audit and does not have any information to dispute the findings. He also said that the town board agrees with recommendations in the audit and will be formulating a corrective action plan.
The Post-Journal reports that Foley says his office will be looking into the matter.
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