{"id":811015,"date":"2018-08-23T14:27:02","date_gmt":"2018-08-23T21:27:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.inmaricopa.com\/?p=811015"},"modified":"2018-08-23T14:27:02","modified_gmt":"2018-08-23T21:27:02","slug":"report-audit-alleges-babeu-voyles-misused-rico-money","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.inmaricopa.com\/report-audit-alleges-babeu-voyles-misused-rico-money\/","title":{"rendered":"Report: Audit alleges Babeu, Voyles misused RICO money"},"content":{"rendered":"
Former Pinal County officials are at the center of a report from the Arizona Auditor General that found their offices allegedly misused anti-racketeering funds and violated conflict-of-interest policies.<\/p>\n
The report, published Aug. 20, focused on $2.4 million managed by the offices of former Sheriff Paul Babeu and former Pinal County Attorney Lando Voyles from January 2013 to December 2016.<\/p>\n
Auditor General Lindsey Perry forwarded the report to the Arizona Attorney General\u2019s Office for further review.<\/p>\n
RICO Funds<\/strong><\/p>\n Anti-racketeering monies are forfeited to law enforcement agencies and include cash and proceeds from auctioning forfeited properties.<\/p>\n Those funds are supposed to be awarded to nonprofit community organizations to support substance abuse prevention, education, and gang prevention efforts.<\/p>\n The report found Voyles allegedly did not always follow procedures to ensure the money was spent appropriately.<\/p>\n Expenditures not monitored<\/strong><\/p>\n Of the 82 awards given to 225 community organizations during the time period, 77 did not provide a memorandum of understanding with the county attorney.<\/p>\n \u201cAccordingly, the uses of the awarded monies could not be determined,\u201d the report stated.<\/p>\n Additionally, half of all the awards did not have applications or written proposals from the beneficiaries and those that did, included incomplete or missing documentation. The County allegedly could not provide documents to show the Community Outreach Fund Committee evaluated the awards as procedure requires.<\/p>\n In a majority of those awards reviewed by the state, the county attorney allegedly did not monitor the organizations\u2019 expenditures.<\/p>\n \u201cFor example, monies were spent on unauthorized purposes such as appreciation events for county sheriff employees and their families and construction for a church dance studio,\u201d according to the report.<\/p>\n Current Pinal County Attorney Kent Volkmer said in a response included with the report that his administration took action to account for and document all requests for anti-racketeering money when he took office in January 2017.<\/p>\n PCAO now requires those requests be accompanied by applications. Applicants must submit a letter explaining the intended uses and goals of expenditures.<\/p>\n
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