For Immediate Release:                                                      

July 16, 2019                                                                        

Auditor Faber Orders Former Village of Rio Grande Court Clerk to Repay Over $7,000

Columbus –Auditor of State Keith Faber today released the 2015 and 2016 audit of the Village of Rio Grande (Gallia County), which found numerous accounting errors and uncovered a Theft in Office scheme by former Mayor’s Court Clerk, LaDonna Day.

“The Clerk’s outrageous breach of public trust, along with the village’s irresponsible record keeping, has hurt this community,” Auditor Faber said. “I have issued a finding for recovery in this case to help insure the stolen funds, and the public’s trust, are resorted.”

Day was responsible for collecting, recording, and depositing court receipts. During their comparison of receipts to bank deposits, state auditors found that Day collected by did not account for $3,708.

On April 8, 2019, Day pled guilty to Theft in Office. Later, on June 5, 2019, a court ordered her to repay the $3,708 she stole and the $4,100 additional audit costs necessary to document the theft. Along with the audit report, Auditor Faber issued a finding for recovery, in favor of the village, to recover the full $7,808.

Additionally, state auditors cited the village several times for instances of noncompliance and material weakness in the village’s financial statements. The Mayor’s Court was not submitting monies due to the village in a timely manner, village appropriations exceeded estimated resources, expenditures exceed appropriations, and the village had unrecorded encumbrances totaling $19,141 and $6,978 at December 31, 2016 and 2015, respectively.

Furthermore, the village Fiscal Officer made several classification errors in the 2015 and 2016 financial statements. This caused over 30 incorrect postings, unrecorded receipts, and unrecorded disbursements.

A full copy of this audit report is available online.

###