Auditor general going over records in clerk of courts office
A staff member from the state auditor general’s office for the past 10 months has been examining financial records of the Washington County Clerk of Courts from 2016 through last year.
Gary Miller, spokesman for Auditor General Eugene DePasquale III, wrote, via email, that the office routinely audits records of county clerks of court, who disburse revenue to the state and county.
At this time last year, at the request of the county commissioners, state police were investigating then-clerk of courts Frank Scandale.
County Controller Michael Namie had learned during the course of an audit his office conducted that money taken in by the clerk of courts did not appear on bank deposit records.
Scandale, a Democrat, lost the row office election last November to Republican Brenda Davis, former Washington mayor. He was charged later that month with several counts, including theft, related to the missing money.
The case brought by the state police Organized Crime Task Force and prosecuted by the state attorney general’s office is scheduled to come before a judge next month. Scandale, 52, of Canonsburg, remains free on $100,000 unsecured bond.
“This is our regularly scheduled audit of that office, but it was moved up on the schedule due to the investigation,” Miller wrote. “The audit will be made public upon its completion.”
Criminal cases handled by Common Pleas Court, plus escrow bail, totaled $4.38 million worth of receipts in the clerk’s office last year.
The office also takes in fines and costs for summary citations appealed to county court or those related to felony and misdemeanor cases.
“My responsibility is to put the checks and balances in place,” said Clerk of Courts Brenda Davis, who took office in early January.