Brown ordered to repay county nearly $10,000

Putnam County also on hook for more than $3,000

Ron Brown

Already facing a pair of Level 6 felonies, and Indianapolis man has been ordered by the State Board of Accounts to repay nearly $10,000 to Putnam County.

Ron Brown, 47, is charged with theft and deception for $33,286.10 in missing Putnam County Animal Shelter Funds paid directly to him for work never completed.

Now he faces the SBA's civil judgment that he owes the county $9,823.69 for duplicate payments received.

Moreover, the SBA also requested that the county collect an additional $3,080 for payments made without proper documentation.

The SBA, in a report released publicly on Friday, found a number of missteps in the handling of Putnam County Animal Shelter Funds during the period of June 1, 2014 through March 31, 2015.

Most notable is the SBA request that Brown repay the county for duplicate payments received.

The SBA directive does not affect the criminal charges against Brown, which spring from $33,286.10 in payments to him.

The problems unearthed by the investigation include no quotes solicited for the $83,000 shelter project, no contracts between the county and contractors, improper claims procedures, duplicate payments, lack of supporting documentation and insufficient internal controls over animal shelter disbursements.

The claims discrepancies in particular bring county officials, particularly the office of Auditor Lorie Hallett, into the crosshairs, as the investigation revealed that four of 13 claims were not approved by the Putnam County Commissioners; seven of eight claims to Brown were signed by Brown as the project manager/director, even though he was only approved to seek grants; and six of 13 claims were paid as emergency claims even though none of them met the requirements of an emergency claim.

The findings of the report were reviewed with county officials in late September, but were not made public until Friday. In an Oct. 6 response letter, County Attorney Jim Ensley specifically addressed the claims issues.

Ensley's letter said, in part, that the auditor has reiterated to office personnel that only elected officials and department heads may sign off on claims and that only the auditor or chief deputy may process claims.

Additionally, the emergency claims procedure has been revamped to bring it in line with state statute. A new procedure was passed by a resolution of the commissioners on July 6.

The investigation also revealed that $3,080 in claims were paid without supporting documentation such as receipts, canceled checks, tickets, invoices, bills, contracts or other public records. As such, the request was made that county officials either collect the money or provide the documentation.

Failing in these measures, "any payments not supported or collected may be the personal obligation of the responsible official or employee."

In response to this matter, Ensley wrote that internal efforts to determine the justification of payment of $3,080 to Brown are ongoing. The county plans to continue to pursue these funds through criminal and perhaps civil proceedings.

Ensley also addressed the likelihood that the duplicate payments sprung from a March decision by the commissioners to pay vendors funds that appeared likely that Brown had pocketed.

"Inadvertently, this resulted in some duplicate payments," Ensley wrote. "It appears in hindsight that a more prudent position would have been to wait until the Indiana State Board of Accounts released the special investigation results and comments before approving payment of the same."

He continued later that "hopes remain optimistic that the money will be recovered as requested restitution stemming from two pending criminal cases against those alleged to have knowingly received inappropriate compensation.'

The criminal cases in question are against Brown as well as Ben O'Hair, who faces one Level 6 felony count of theft for allegedly twice billing the county for $5,740 worth of work.

O'Hair, who was not named in the SBA report, is next due in Putnam Circuit Court on Dec. 17 for a pre-trial conference.

Brown is to return to court on Dec. 10 for a pre-trial conference.