6/28/2019 9:56:09 PM
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Section 5: OPA Board Subject: Fines and Legal Fees Msg# 1050448
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Several employees prepared deposits to be sent to the bank daily. They were turned in at the Accounting Supervisors office and placed in a locked bank bag and delivered to the police department for transport to the bank. The police dropped it off and picked up the bag from the day before with the receipts. Ocean Pines only used 2 part deposit tickets and they were both sent to the bank, one stayed at the bank and the other came back as the receipt. This was changed immediately when it became evident the theft was occurring at the bank and three part receipts were ordered. We made copies until we used up all the 2 part deposit tickets.
This unfolded all summer long. There were 2 different days that someone called from the bank and said some or all of the cash was missing from a few deposits. The accounting supervisor and I had a few theories on employees/management that might have had access to the deposits to remove some of the cash before they went to the bank-but we mostly suspected someone at the bank. Locks on the safe were changed, controls were tightened and there were no more calls saying that deposits were short so we thought it had been contained. The accounting supervisor had worked there for almost 40 years and there had never been an issue with the bank so deposit slips were gathered daily and checked at the end of the month when the bank statement was available. It was at that point (early August) that we realized the problem hadn't been contained and several full deposits were missing. We told John Viola and he told Brett Hill. From there we weren't informed of what was going on. However, shortly there after, there was one day in particular the accounting supervisor had just prepared golf deposits and sent them to the bank the day before and one of the deposit tickets was missing when the bank bag returned. We reported this to John Viola immediately and were told not to call the bank and to let them handle it. A few weeks later they brought in auditors to question us/investigate our procedures. The investigation never turned to the bank until the forensic audit which was then too late since the bank says all the evidence was gone after 90 days. The forensic audit states that I left the building one day with the bank deposits and didn't return for a while-this was because I waited at the bank and watched them count the deposits. We didn't want to send deposits that might disappear. But that was too time consuming so we went with daily disposable cash bags with the deposits listed on the outside so that the bank employees would see that there was a daily record of deposits. I think the bank employee in question started with a small theft one day, then a little bigger one a little bit later and when nothing happened she/he went for full deposits. After we started using the daily bags it never happened again. The accounting supervisor and I were 100% sure it was the bank - but OPA management didn't believe us. If I'm wrong, I'd love for Brett Hill or John Viola to explain why they didn't begin an immediate investigation with the bank. I'm also curious what information they gave to John Bailey that caused our employee files to be sent to WCBI and the interrogations to continue that winter. There's a lot more to this story and next time I see you at the mailbox I'll be glad to answer any questions! |
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For reference, the above message is a reply to a message where: Beverly, could you explain something about the bank deposits that has me confused. I help count funds at our church. I fill out a deposit slip in a standard deposit book which automatically creates a copy via carbon. When delivered to the bank our deposit slip amount is compared to the banks count of our funds. In the forensic audit report I thought I read something about OPA not having copies of deposit slips. Did I read that wrong? Also, if a bank employee is pocketing "x" amount from our funds wouldn't it show up almost immediately when OPA compares the deposit to their amount on the deposit slip? Thanks for your insight. |
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