$825K in sanitary district payments missing

Richmond Sanitary District banked more than $800,000 less than it should have on nearly 1,000 deposits made during a 6 1/2-year span, according to a State Board of Accounts investigation.

Jennifer Wilson was fired from her sanitary district position following an internal investigation initiated after Richmond Police Department received a tip about the shortfalls, according to the investigation report signed by field examiner Cole Wesley and dated Oct. 22. The report, which was made public on the SBOA website Oct. 23, indicates RPD is also investigating. RPD, the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office and the Indiana Attorney General’s Office received copies of the SBOA report.

According to the report, Wilson worked in the district’s main office and was responsible for receiving the daily bundle of cash and check payments from vendors and individuals using the district’s services. Those services include landfill usage, trash pickup, dumpster rental, wastewater utility usage and stormwater utility usage. 

WWN asked RPD to confirm the investigation. Major Adam Blanton, the assistant chief, said there is an active investigation into Wilson, and RPD recently had turned over all of its findings to the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office for consideration of charges.

The state’s online court case system does not show a case filed against Wilson, whose job duties included finalizing the sanitary district’s daily cash deposits and filling out a daily recap report that documented the total money received. That report and the deposit slip were then given to the city controller’s office.

The SBOA found that from Dec. 7, 2016, through June 30, 2023, 1,220 deposits were made when Wilson worked, and 994 — or 82% — of those transactions deposited less cash than sanitary district records show was received. The total shortfall is $825,819.74.

SBOA further determined that when Wilson was on leave from her role, 94% of the bank deposits made by other employees were accurate and the remaining nine deposits had discrepancies of only $50.01.

By year, the shortfalls were $1,752.48 in 2016, $55,152.66 in 2017, $122,423.08 in 2018, $147,411.58 in 2019, $127,828.10 in 2020, $149,103.31 in 2021, $152,113.07 in 2022 and $70,035.46 in 2023.

During the period from May 16, 2018, to June 22, 2023, the SBOA found $173,750 cash was deposited into Wilson’s personal account. There were 243 cash deposits to Wilson’s account on days the sanitary district deposits were short.

The report shows 20 examples where the daily cash deposits were missing between $280 and $2,700 and cash deposits to Wilson’s personal account those same days ranged from $200 to $2,000. For example, on Dec. 6, 2021, the sanitary district’s cash collections were $3,618.05, but the cash deposit was $1,278.04, a difference of $2,340.01. On that day, a $2,000 cash deposit was made to Wilson’s account.

On two of those days, the cash deposits into Wilson’s account exceeded the cash amount not deposited into the sanitary district account.

The SBOA report indicates that by state statute Wilson is liable for the sanitary district’s loss. She has been asked to repay the missing $825,819.74 and $80,548.71 in costs accrued during the SBOA’s investigation. That totals $906,368.45 that Wilson owes.

The report includes a statement on Richmond Sanitary District stationery that says the district “took appropriate action to rectify the misappropriation of funds” within 24 hours of learning about the alleged activities. It says the city made adjustments to its internal controls to safeguard against a similar situation and “is reviewing all of its internal controls to ensure adequate protection in all money handling processes.”

The SBOA found that the sanitary district had no reconciliation control and that the loss was “due to the lack of segregation of duties.” An employee or group of employees should not “initiate, approve, undertake and review the same action,” the report says.

According to the report, its contents were shared Oct. 3 with Mayor Ron Oler, sanitary district director Pat Smoker, city attorney A.J. Sickmann and others.