School District finance report details 'gross oversight failures'
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By DAVID BALL
dball@keysreporter.com
Posted - Thursday, September 17, 2009 11:57 AM EDT
By SEAN KINNEY
School Board members listen Tuesday to board-hired forensic auditor Richard Fechter detail the findings of his investigation into district finances.
It looks like the Monroe County School Board now has enough information to take disciplinary action against employees involved in the School District's finance scandal.
Tuesday, forensic investigators Richard Fechter and Richard Pollack unveiled their final report, a damning account of breakdowns in the system that led to unchecked, unauthorized spending. And public corruption attorney Latour "L.T." Lafferty made it clear that many policies and procedures were broken -- none more so than in the Finance Department.
 | Click here to view the final report of the School District finance scandal investigation |
"The real fault is in [the] Finance Department's failure to come up with clear policies and procedures to tell individuals who was responsible and to train people," Fechter said. "This went back to the [former] director of finance ... but that doesn't alleviate the current director."
But ultimately, the auditor said, the buck stopped with Superintendent Randy Acevedo, now suspended.
The board discussed at length how current Finance Director Kathy Reitzel, purchasing card administrator Linda Walker and other employees may have allowed a former administrator to allegedly steal hundreds of thousands of dollars in district funds.
However, the board can't take action against employees yet; it must receive recommendations from a superintendent. That will likely wait until Gov. Charlie Crist appoints a new superintendent to replace Acevedo -- as acting Superintendent Mike Henriquez is also implicated in the report.
The investigation followed the March 3 resignation of Adult Education Coordinator Monique Acevedo, Randy's wife, after it came out that she used her district-issued credit card for personal purchases.
She's charged with three counts of felony theft and one of fraud for allegedly stealing $180,000 in district cash, and money from high school fundraising activities.
More theft charges involving nearly $100,000 of personal items charged on her district credit card are likely to be filed, state prosecutors said.
Randy Acevedo faces three charges of official misconduct for allegedly covering up some of the theft. He was arrested on June 11 and suspended later that day by Crist.
The final investigative report comes after a June 9 draft found a "permissive culture of repeated violations of policies and procedures" by several top administrators -- some of which may have allowed Monique Acevedo to steal the money over several years.
However, board members voted 3-2 to rehire most of those employees for the coming school year based on Lafferty's recommendation they wait for the final report before taking any disciplinary action.
Before Tuesday's meeting, at least four board members said they expected suspensions for some employees.
The final report lists 14 general "failures" by Reitzel, who reported some of Monique Acevedo's purchases to her husband as far back as 2007 but failed to correct procedures in her department to prevent it happening again.
However, investigators also credited Reitzel for correcting other purchasing issues and eventually alerting state auditors and board Chairman Andy Griffiths to the illegal purchases in March 2009.
"You could find some fault in her failure to do some proactive things going forward," Fechter said. "There are gross oversight failures in the Finance Department that contributed to [the theft] in the first place ... that would've, could've, prevented it from happening again in 2009."
Lafferty told The Reporter that Reitzel and Walker's potential protection under the state's whistleblower law doesn't prevent actions against them.
"Any disciplinary action taken will be based on factual findings in that report and a failure to comply with policies," Lafferty said. "It won't have anything to do with whistle-blowing activity."
Other employees faulted in the report include Career Education Coordinator Mark Hooper (returning as a teacher), Transportation Director Dori Collins, Food Service and Purchasing Director Lisa Cherry and accounting clerk Bobbi Brown.
