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Former Buffalo city worker accused of misappropriating more than $40k

The former deputy city clerk has been charged with ongoing criminal conduct and first-degree theft.

BUFFALO, Iowa — Buffalo, Iowa's former deputy city clerk is facing charges after an audit discovered about $44,000 had been misappropriated over the course of three years.

According to an audit released by Auditor of State Rob Sand, the money was either not deposited, improperly disbursed, or was not properly documented in the City of Buffalo.  The investigation looked over a period from April of 2015 to August of 2018. 

"The special investigation was requested by city officials as a results of concerns regarding certain financial transactions processed by the former Deputy City Clerk, Riki Harrington."

"Funds were getting brought into the city to pay utility costs, or checks were being sent into the city for a variety of things and they were not getting deposited to the city accounts," explained Sand. 

He said the biggest amount of the money was checks that were substituted for cash.  

"So a check might be coming in that no one in the city knew to be expecting and what you would see happen would be the amount of money would get credited towards individuals' utility bills, but then the cash that those people brought in to pay those bills would then disappear."

"A lot of (the money) was deposited into Riki Harrington’s own bank account and then we’re guessing that the rest of it was simply spent at her discretion."

The city clerk discovered something was amiss in 2018 when preparing for the city's annual exam, according to the report. It was discovered that the collections recorded for fines from Scott County in Fiscal Year 2018 added up to about half of that which was received in previous years.

Harrington was placed on unpaid administrative leave in August of 2018.  She submitted her resignation days later.

On Monday, April 13, Harrington was charged with ongoing criminal conduct and first-degree theft, according to Scott County Attorney Mike Walton. She's due in court on May 14.

Here's the breakdown of what the audit uncovered: 

  • $42,390.21 in undeposited collections
    • $28, 039.42 worth of checks substituted for cash collections recorded in the city's accounting system but not deposited to the city's bank account
    • $5,079.13 of payments posted to utility customers' accounts which weren't recorded on daily receipt listing or deposited into the city's account
    • $3,600 of security deposits for utility services recorded in the city's accounting system but not deposited into the city's account
    • $2,641 of city feeds recorded into the accounting system but not deposited into the city's bank account
  • $773.77 improper disbursements
    • $488.68 of various credit card fees paid by the city
    • $75.78 unauthorized payroll disbursements issued to Harrington and the related city share of the payroll costs
    • $209.31 of late and interest fees to IPERS
  • $841.52 unsupported disbursements
    • $673.50 of purchases on the city's credit card that couldn't be determined
    • $168.02 of checks issued from the city's checking account for petty cash replenishment and they couldn't find supporting documentation.
City of Buffalo misappropriated funds

State Auditor Rob Sand offers a breakdown of what he says happened to roughly $40,000 that was either undeposited or misappropriated between 2015 and 2018 in the City of Buffalo, Iowa. Full story here: https://tinyurl.com/vsze5ux

Posted by WQAD on Tuesday, April 14, 2020

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