Auditor Fitzpatrick says the City of Desloge Municipal Division is making good progress to restore public trust after a 2024 audit uncovered $3,886 in missing money

Missouri State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick says the City of Desloge Municipal Division has made good progress to address the missing money uncovered by a 2024 audit and has taken important steps to prevent money from being stolen from the court in the future. Fitzpatrick released a follow-up report today that indicates court officials have implemented most of the recommendations from the previous audit that gave the court the lowest possible rating of "poor."

The original report found former Court Administrator Heather Steinmetz was responsible for at least $3,886 in missing money, and may have used methods to conceal another $4,482 in potentially missing funds. The follow-up report notes the division worked with law enforcement to pursue criminal prosecution, which resulted in Steinmetz pleading guilty to felony charges and having to pay $3,886 in restitution. The follow-up report also finds the division has implemented the recommendation to segregate accounting and recordkeeping duties so the court administrator is not solely responsible for collecting receipts, recording court receipts and case activity to the court system, preparing disbursements, and preparing monthly financial reports for court activities.

"There are very simple but very important steps any government can take to ensure an unscrupulous individual is not able to steal funds. Unfortunately, the City of Desloge Municipal Division did not have these controls and procedures in place to prevent nearly $4,000 from being stolen," said Auditor Fitzpatrick. "The good news is the court has now made significant progress to segregate duties, which is a key component to prevent one person from having the ability take money without anyone noticing. I applaud the court for taking this step and urge them to continue to fully implement all of the recommendations we made in our original audit."

The follow-up report also finds the City of Desloge Municipal Division implemented recommendations to issue receipt slips for, or otherwise document, transmitted receipts from the city, and to put in place an independent and/or supervisory review and approval for all fee adjustments made in the court system. The report finds the division has only partially implemented the recommendation to account for the numerical sequence of receipt slip numbers.

The original audit of the City of Desloge Municipal Division can be found here. The follow-up report is available here.