(The Center Square) – The former city clerk of a small town in Iowa is accused of mishandling more than $80,000 of city funds, with some of the money going to purchase clothing and meals at restaurants, State Auditor Rob Sand said Tuesday.
An audit requested by Delhi, Iowa, officials also shows the former clerk encrypted a computer so city officials could not access it, allegedly to hide work she was doing as clerk of another city. Delhi has a population of more than 400 people, according to the city’s website.
Sand identified the clerk as Lori Tucker, who is still the city clerk of the town of Ryan, he said.
The audit shows more than $13,525.46 of unsupported disbursements are composed of transactions that include reimbursements to Tucker and a former maintenance employee.
“The unsupported purchases identified totaled $6,520.44 and include purchases from Amazon, Best Buy, convenience stores, Walmart, Dollar General, and Menards,” the audit said.
Another questionable charge was to a coffee shop for $51 on a Saturday when the city offices were closed, according to the audit.
In addition to the questionable charges, Tucker incurred nearly $30,000 of unauthorized payroll costs, including excess wages, longevity payments and unearned vacation hours. The audit also found $21,788.59 of improper contributions to Tucker’s Healthcare Savings Account.
Tucker, who joined the city in December 2014, resigned after a new mayor and council took office in 2022.
“Due to the growing tension, on April 12, 2022, Ms. Tucker turned in her resignation to the Mayor via email stating that due to the rumors that have been spread around town about her work behaviors and the ‘hostile environment’ since January 2022, she would not be able to return to work,” the audit said.
The mayor and council requested the audit in June 2023.
Tucker was interviewed by auditors about 130 questionable payroll checks.
“According to Ms. Tucker, ‘Unless, unless there was work to do, I wasn’t working more hours to go over, I had other things to do, I had two other jobs … There wasn’t anybody there to do the job when I wasn’t there,'” the report said Tucker told auditors.
Sand said the findings have been turned over to the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office, the Division of Criminal Investigation, the Delaware County Attorney’s Office and the Attorney General’s Office.