State Auditor Crit Luallen’s office today released a series of audits revealing that Whitley County Sheriff Lawrence Hodge had a deficit of $124,483 over a three-year period. Luallen has referred the case to the FBI for further investigation.

Hodge’s 2005 tax account had a deficit of $15,984 and his 2006 account had a deficit of $54,444. His fee accounts had deficits of $2,803 in 2005, $40,624 in 2006 and $10,628 in 2007. The Auditor’s office says they were “unable to determine the complete amount because of a lack of adequate record keeping in the sheriff’s office. Had adequate records been available, the deficit would likely be more.”

Audit findings in the fee accounts include:

• The sheriff did not maintain accurate accounting records or account for all receipts in the appropriate year.
• The sheriff did not deposit receipts of the office in a timely manner.
• The sheriff should not loan money to his fee account from his tax account.
• The sheriff did not provide adequate oversight for fuel purchases made with credit cards.
• The sheriff lacked adequate controls over drug and alcohol account receipts and their disbursements, and did not maintain proper documentation for disbursements of the accounts.
• The sheriff should not expend seized assets before being awarded by the court.

And findings in the tax accounts include:

• The sheriff’s office did not properly account for and distribute all tax payments received from taxpayers.
• The sheriff should accurately account for all franchise tax collections and distribute all franchise taxes properly.
• The sheriff’s office did not properly account for all paid and unpaid tax bills and accepted payments after the tax sale date.
• The sheriff should refund penalties collected in error.
• The sheriff did not deposit receipts of the office in a timely manner and did not reconcile deposits to the daily collection journals or a daily receipts ledger.

In addition to all that, here’s one of the biggies: In 2007, Hodge’s office was awarded a 2005 Ford Mustang and $30,549 in cash seized as part of a drug-related arrest. The vehicle, cash and all of the items of personal property recovered by the office were supposed to be forfeited to the office. But guess what? Auditors found four discrepancies with the sale of the Mustang.

Take a look at the five audits released today (Warning – PDF Links):

• 2005 Whitley Sheriff Fee Audit Report
• 2005 Whitley Sheriff’s Tax Settlement Audit Report
• 2006 Whitley Sheriff Fee Audit Report
• 2006 Whitley Sheriff’s Tax Settlement Audit Report
• 2007 Whitley Sheriff Fee Audit Report

Goodness. Kentucky politicians are corrupt and waste our tax dollars like crazy. That’ll never change.

At least we can be proud of the Auditor’s office for constantly uncovering corruption and saving us money.