The search for missing money in Lakeland’s Parks and Recreation Department continues.
- Lakeland Parks & Rec missing money investigation continues
- Audit found $117K missing from Simpson Park Community Center
- Two resigned, third retired since investigation started
An internal audit found that more than $117,000 is missing from the Simpson Park Community Center accounts.
Two people have resigned and a third retired since the investigation started.
Long time Lakeland resident Yvonne McShay is one of the many in the neighborhood who is shocked.
“It’s very painful probably to everyone that lives around here. It’s a scar on Simpson Park and it’s a scar on the community,” said Yvonne McShay.
City spokesman Kevin Cook said he’s also surprised by this investigation.
“A total shock,” said Kevin Cook.
He said someone outside of the Parks and Recreation department noticed the discrepancy.
“It was the treasurer’s department that initially found an issue with the account,” Cook said.
Auditors came in and discovered during the past five years people were being registered into the center's computer system for basketball and summer camp programs, but some of the fee money was missing in the center’s accounts.
“We sent a team to go into the supervisor of Simpson Park office’s and started scouring and looking in drawers and files and they found checks and cash that were never deposited,” Cook said. “Obviously we had a total breakdown in cash handling procedures. We have now put some procedures in place. The finance department has put in another layer of reconciliation. But that’s a great question. It shouldn’t have taken them five years.”
Fiscal Operations Manager Mindi Fitch is on paid leave. Her attorney Robert Grizzard said she is fighting disciplinary action.
“Her title did not reflect that she was supposed to do this. She had never been instructed to do this reconciliation,” said Robert Grizzard during a phone interview.
Cook said that’s not what she wrote on her job questionnaire.
“She wrote herself that 30 percent of her time is spent reconciling, reviewing, and analyzing expense revenue accounts,” Cook said.
A detective with Lakeland police started investigating the missing money on Mar. 29. The department’s spokesman Gary Gross couldn’t provide a timeline but said it could be awhile before the detective determines whether any charges should be filed in the case.
Cook said auditors looked at all cash handling locations including Kelly Recreation Complex and Cleveland Heights Golf Course and didn’t find any issues there.