Former Mills County employee facing multiple charges

Editor’s Note: The following is reprinted from www.opinion-tribune.com.

GLENWOOD — Mills County Attorney Eric Hansen has confirmed that a former employee of the Mills County Treasurer's Office will be facing multiple charges for the alleged theft of more than $36,000 from the auto department over a six-year period, from 2005-2011.

Hansen said charges will be filed Friday against Tammy Gammon following a special investigation by the Iowa State Auditor's Office. Gammon, who was fired from her position in April 2011, will be charged with on-going criminal conduct, first-degree theft, felonious conduct in office and five counts of forgery.

The state auditor's office released the following news release concerning its investigation on Friday morning:

Auditor of State David A. Vaudt today released a report on a special investigation of the Mills County Treasurer’s Office.  The report covers the period Jan. 1, 2005, through March 31, 2011.

The special investigation was requested by county officials as a result of concerns collections were not properly deposited for the Auto Department within the treasurer’s office. Tammy Gammon, the former auto deputy, began working in the treasurer’s office on Jan. 6, 2003, and was terminated from employment on April 30, 2011, after admitting she did not properly deposit certain fees collected by the treasurer’s office and had kept the fees for her personal use.

Vaudt reported the special investigation identified 182 improperly voided or altered vehicle registration renewals, vehicle titles and improper fee adjustments recorded in the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) ARCON Registration and Title System (DOT System).

Because the transactions identified were improperly voided, altered or adjusted to show no fees were collected or the amount collected was less than the amount actually collected, the transactions resulted in $36,349.75 of undeposited collections.

During an interview with an agent of the Division of Criminal Investigation, Ms. Gammon stated she voided certain statements and kept the cash. She also stated she used the cash for day-to-day expenses and did not deposit it in her personal bank account. Of the 182 transactions identified, 166 were recorded with Ms. Gammon’s user identification. The remaining 16 transactions were processed with other staff members’ user identifications.

However, according to staff members in the treasurer’s office, Ms. Gammon had access to other staff members’ user identifications and passwords.

The fees collected by the treasurer’s office are to be allocated between the county and the DOT. The amount retained by the county is based on the type of fee collected.

For registration renewals and various fees, the county retains four percent of the collections and the remaining 96 percent is transferred to the DOT on a monthly basis.

When a new title is issued, the county keeps $1 of the use tax collected and the remaining amount is transferred to the Treasurer of State for the DOT’S Road Use Tax Fund. Of the $36,349.75 of undeposited collections, the county should have retained $1,414.51 and the state should have received $34,935.24.

The DOT System was implemented on Jan. 1, 2005. Prior to that date, the amount of vehicle transactions was calculated manually.

Because the manual records were not maintained, it is not possible to determine if fees collected prior to Jan. 1, 2005, were undeposited.

The report also includes recommendations to strengthen the internal controls and overall operations of the Mills County Treasurer’s Office.