By Patricia Breakey
Delhi News Bureau
DELHI _ A Trout Creek woman who allegedly stole $52,623 from the Delaware County Department of Social Services Child Support Unit was fired from her position in January, DSS Commissioner William Moon said Friday.
Karen Faulkner, a former child support investigator, has not been criminally charged, Moon said. He said Delaware County District Attorney Richard Northrup referred the criminal aspects of the case to the state Attorney General, Office of Public Integrity.
Faulkner said she did not want to comment when reached by phone at her home Friday.
Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's press office did not return a call Friday requesting information about the status of the investigation.
State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli released an audit Friday indicating that the Delaware County Child Support Collection Unit lost $52,623 from 2003 to 2007.
The audit, requested by Northrup, also found that there was inadequate supervision of personnel responsible for collecting and depositing child support funds.
DiNapoli also said county employees had unauthorized access to Moon's signature stamp and blank checks used for expenditures.
The comptroller's office is working with law enforcement officials to investigate the possible theft of the funds.
Moon issued a media release in which he said, "Procedures to properly account for the recording and depositing of all local cash payments were found to have inherent weaknesses and inconsistencies, and not all of the control risks that apply to accurate accounting of child support transactions were being practiced."
The department made procedural changes around the time of the audit, Moon said, and other changes are highlighted in the department's Corrective Action Plan filed Wednesday with the comptroller.
Moon said the comptroller identified that $52,623 was missing from child support deposits and found evidence that pointed to a child support unit employee being responsible.
Moon said Faulkner received her due process rights under Article 75 of the New York State Civil Service Law. At an administrative hearing in January, Faulkner was determined to have stolen the money, and she was discharged.
The Delaware County Board of Supervisors had an external auditing firm annually review the two child support bank account statements and reconciliations as well as test the internal controls within the Child Support Unit.
"Unfortunately, that auditing firm did not detect the deficiencies and annually reported to the county and the department that no deficiencies or weaknesses were detected during these reviews," Moon said.
Moon said there was never any misuse of his signature stamp or of blank checks. He added that procedures for handling the $200,000 that passes through the department weekly have been centralized and are being recorded on a video camera.
"Every payer's child support account was properly credited with all payments," Moon said, "and every payee's child support account was properly paid the funds collected on behalf of that account.
"The theft of the $52,623 was from general funds owed the county of Delaware for past assistance connected with either the payment of public assistance or Medicaid programs," Moon continued.
DiNapoli said that since his office began the audit of the county's Child Support Collection Unit, county officials have implemented corrective measures designed to prevent future thefts.
The audit found that:
ä The collection unit staff did not properly record, deposit, or disburse all funds collected.
ä Of the $52,623 unaccounted for, $49,623 was not deposited in the collection unit's bank account, while deposits on two occasions were short a total of $1,000. Also, $2,000 received and recorded by the collection unit was deposited directly into a bank account that belonged to one of the employees.
A copy of the report is available at www.osc.state.ny.us//localgov/audits/counties/2008/delaware.pdf.
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Patricia Breakey can be reached at 746-2894 or at stardelhi@stny.rr.com.
