[Vision2020] Former sheriff's lieutenant charged in case of missing money

[Art Deco]

Former sheriff's lieutenant charged in case of missing money

* By Brandon Macz, Daily News staff writer | Posted: Tuesday, April 3, 2012
12:43 pm *

Former Latah County Sheriff’s Lt. Rhonda Bunney has been charged with
felony misuse of public monies for allegedly skimming more than $56,000 in
revenue over a five-year period.

She held the position of administrative services supervisor.

Bunney was charged Friday by Bonner County Prosecutor Louis Marshall,
acting as special prosecutor in the case, following a six-month Idaho State
Police investigation into shortages in funds the 26-year sheriff’s employee
was in charge of managing.

According to a probable cause affidavit submitted by ISP Detective Rich
Adamson in Latah County 2nd District Court, the investigation began in
mid-October when Latah County Sheriff Wayne Rausch identified Bunney, 48,
as a suspect in money missing from the county driver’s license department’s
fingerprint fund.

Auditor Susan Petersen and bookkeeper Susan Egan had identified
inconsistencies between revenues reported by the driver’s license
department and what was received by the auditor’s office, according to the
affidavit. The auditor’s office also reported a majority of the sealed
envelopes containing fingerprint fee revenues sent there from the license
department were not the originals.

On Jan. 31, Rausch requested an independent audit by Moscow accounting
firm, Presnell Gage, on all funds Bunney had access to over the past five
years. That is the statute of limitation for potential criminal
proceedings. Commissioners approved the audit spanning from January 2006 to
October 2011, at a cost of $11,804.

The final audit was received by the sheriff’s office on Feb. 29 and Bunney
was fired the next day after spending several months on paid administrative
leave during the investigation.

Revenue inconsistencies were also identified in the jail, including its
commissary account, and additional work by Presnell Gage concluded there
was a total of $56,608.99 missing from that account and the fingerprinting
funds.


-- 
Art Deco (Wayne A. Fox)
art.deco.studios at gmail.com
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