A special prosecutor found no criminal wrongdoing by the Izard County sheriff's office after an investigation into how the sheriff used donated money and revenue that was confiscated during arrests.
However, Special Prosecuting Attorney Jack McQuary of Little Rock did advise Sheriff Tate Lawrence to close all bank accounts that he had opened for the sheriff's office and to route any new donations through the county judge and Quorum Court into the county's general fund budget.
McQuary said Thursday that it appeared Lawrence had used donated money in 2008 and 2009 to buy weapons, equipment and supplies for his deputies.
"No money went to anyone's pocket," he said. "It appears [Lawrence] was buying things with money that his budget didn't have."
Lawrence did not return a telephone message left Thursday afternoon.
The state's Legislative Joint Auditing Committee found questions with the sheriff's office finances during an audit in 2010. According to its investigation, the committee found that Lawrence had opened three bank accounts outside of the Izard County treasurer's control.
The audit found that the sheriff's office spent $12,862 from Jan. 1, 2008, to Dec. 31, 2009, on weapons, equipment and supplies. It also noted that Lawrence had taken $3,000 out of one account and later reimbursed it.
The sheriff opened a second account with $25,000 taken during an April 2007 drug arrest.
In a Dec. 31, letter to Circuit Judge Dan Kemp of Mountain View, McQuary wrote that he found no evidence of criminal action.
McQuary cited Arkansas Code Annotated 14-14-1313, which states that all funds coming into possession of any county office become public funds and must be remitted to the county treasurer.
"Myself and at least one of the previous special prosecutors assigned this investigation agree, that of the monies received by the sheriff's office that were considered 'donations' did not go toward any one person's personal gain," McQuary wrote in the letter to Kemp.
"It appears that the money was used to buy weapons and equipment for law enforcement that they could not have afforded by their budget alone.
"This does not mean it is OK by any means to use this money," he wrote to Kemp. "But it does take out any [cause] for criminal charges."
McQuary recommended that Lawrence close all nonstatutory bank accounts; disperse any donations through the county's general fund, rather than the sheriff's office; deposit all proceeds from inmates into the county general fund; deposit revenue taken from vending machines in the office to the general fund; and to no longer accept any money unless specifically authorized by statute.
State Desk on 01/09/2015