By Rob Moritz
Arkansas News Bureau
LITTLE ROCK — The FBI is investigating more than $200,000 in questionable expenditures of federal disaster funds and county road funds by Newton County officials, state auditors told legislators today.
Some of the payments went to companies owned by a quorum court member and his family, auditors reported.
“Reported are issues including unauthorized and undocumented disbursements totaling $214,097 and noncompliance with state ethics laws, purchasing and bidding laws,” state auditor Kim Williams told the Legislative Joint Auditing Committee.
Sen. Randy Laverty, D-Jasper, who represents the area, asked for more information on how much of the money spent was federal funds and how much was county funds. He said after the meeting he had heard some people had already received federal subpoenas.
Kim Brunell, a spokesman for the FBI in Little Rock, said Thursday she could neither confirm nor deny that an investigation was occurring.
The audit, covering 2007 and 2008, found that former Newton County Judge Harold Smith made $214,097 in unauthorized and undocumented payments to several firms, including an excavating company owned by Justice of the Peace Mike Tabor, and to a farm supply company owned by Tabor’s stepfather.
Included in the total was nearly $9,500 paid to the children of the county road foreman for gravel in 2007 and 2008, according to the audit. Those payments were inadequately documented, Williams said.
In addition to the FBI investigation, Williams also said the audit report also had been forwarded to the Newton County prosecutor.
The audit also found that the county judge approved the purchase of two generators for $31,840 without taking bids.
Ethical issues discovered in the audit included paying $388 to Tabor Excavating, owned by the quorum court member, and $800 to Feed Lot Farm Supply, a business owned by Tabor’s stepfather. The transactions were not properly documented.
Tabor did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment Thursday, and a phone number for Smith was not listed. Smith’s term as county judge ended last year.
The audit also discovered that $2,727 in sheriff’s office fines and bond revenue was never deposited. The department’s bookkeeper, Jenny LaFollette, was charged in June with felony theft of property.
Also during today’s meeting, the committee voted to begin issuing subpoenas to people to appear before the panel if they refuse to appear voluntarily.
Lawmakers were particularly upset that the legal counsel for the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System failed to attend a subcommittee meeting Wednesday.
