Prosecutor's office investigating theft of $1 million from ACS
Jul. 5—ANDERSON — The Madison County prosecutor's office is conducting a criminal investigation of the purported theft of nearly $1 million from Anderson Community Schools.
Madison County Prosecutor Rodney Cummings said Tuesday his office has started an investigation into the alleged theft by former ACS food service manager Carla Burke.
Cummings said Mitch Carroll, who specializes in juvenile and financial crime investigations for the prosecutor's office, is leading the local probe. The FBI might conduct a separate investigation, according to Cummings.
The alleged theft was discovered during a special audit of the school corporation by the Indiana State Board of Accounts.
Burke was hired by ACS in 1998 and was named food service department bookkeeper in 2006. She resigned from the school corporation in 2019.
The audit found that from 2014 through 2019, Burke cashed 312 checks totaling $976,773 from the school lunch fund extracurricular bank account.
"All of the 312 checks were made payable to, endorsed, and cashed by Burke," the audit reads. "The Department's records, including the check registers and purchase authorizations for the 312 checks, indicated the payments were made to vendors, not Burke. Vendor invoices were not provided to support the payments made to Burke."
According to the board of accounts, Burke owes $1,118,325.26 for unauthorized transactions, penalties and interest as well as special investigation costs.
The audit noted that Burke was responsible for maintaining financial records of the school lunch fund and that her responsibilities included posting receipts and disbursements, maintaining cash balance records and reconciling bank accounts.
The state audit is also critical of ACS financial record keeping.
"Bank statements and canceled checks were not reviewed, so school corporation officials were not aware that cancelled checks or check images were not being provided by the bank," the audit states.
Burke's was one of two required signatures on checks, but when the checks were created electronically it applied the dual signatures on the documents.
Auditors outlined additional gaps in oversight of school lunch financials, noting that the software used by Burke allowed transactions to be changed at any time, including after an audit.
"The failure to establish these internal controls enabled misstatements or irregularities to go undetected," the audit reads.
In a statement, ACS officials said that corrective action taken includes additional internal controls and the purchase of new financial software.
Follow Ken de la Bastide on Twitter @KendelaBastide, or call 765-640-4863.
