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Drug funds at issue again in controversy between sheriff and county commission

Sheriff’s attorney says documentation plentiful; county attorney says more info is needed

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

and JOHN THOMPSON
jthompson@TheCitizenNews.com

For the second year in a row, problems have arisen with federal paperwork to secure funds seized from drug dealers for use by the Fayette County Sheriff’s Department for equipment and training.

The paperwork was not signed by County Commission Chairman Greg Dunn by the Aug. 31 deadline, but Assistant County Attorney Dennis Davenport said the sheriff’s department withdrew the paperwork from the board of commissioners on Aug. 25 before Dunn had the chance.

Dunn reiterated the point after Thursday’s County Commission meeting.

“None of the commissioners signed it, because it was withdrawn before the deadline,” he said.

The county’s head of finance, Mark Pullium, said yesterday that he had not been involved in this year’s controversy over the drug funds.

“I know our external auditor is here this week, but there’s not been any special requests concerning those funds,” he said.

Rick Lindsey, attorney for the sheriff’s department, contends that Dunn was provided with supporting documentation, a financial summary of the department’s drug forfeiture account and a copy of the check register of the account.

Both attorneys sent letters outlining their viewpoints to the U.S. Department of Justice, which handles the paperwork through its Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering division.

In his Sept. 2 letter, Davenport said “a request is currently being made for supporting documentation for the certification.”

But in Lindsey’s Sept. 8 letter to the same agency, he indicated that Dunn had the original documentation provided for almost a month “and never made a request for additional documentation and never asked questions of the sheriff regarding these funds.”

Lindsey also said that “to the best of the sheriff’s knowledge” none of the information regarding the paperwork and its documentation was forwarded by Dunn to the other commissioners.

Davenport concurred that the information was received by the board in late July, but when an employee of the sheriff’s department took the certification letter back from the board’s office, “no mention was made that the certification was being forwarded to the Department of Justice without the signature of the board.”

“The board, consistent with last year’s request, will not consider the execution of the certification without proper supporting documentation,” Davenport wrote in the letter.

Lindsey said that a county official contacted a sheriff’s representative shortly before the Aug. 31 deadline for the paperwork, saying Dunn was not going to sign and “no explanation was given.” Sheriff Randall Johnson was then instructed, it doesn’t say by whom, to send in the paperwork with just his signature only, Lindsey said.

Following that submission, the county asked to have its financial director review the federal forfeiture account, Lindsey said. That permission was granted by the sheriff and is the same process used last year, Lindsey added.

“The federal forfeiture account, like all of the sheriff’s funds, are audited each year by an outside, independent certified public accounting firm,” Lindsey said. “The audits are public documents and are given to the county commissioners each year for review. The chairman is provided with sufficient information to provide him with the needed information that all of the federal forfeiture funds are properly deposited into the account and properly utilized under the federal guidelines.”

A similar controversy arose last year when Dunn refused the sign the certification saying there hadn’t been a full accounting of how the monies in the fund were spent. The county’s chief financial officer did audit last year’s fund, however.

Ultimately, last year’s certification for the drug seizure money was signed by board vice chair Linda Wells once Dunn refused to sign.