According to a press release from the United States Attorney for the District of Idaho, former Athol City Clerk Sally R. Hansen pleaded guilty today to 15 counts of wire fraud.
“According to court documents, during the time of her employment, Hansen used the wires and fraudulently took $417,879 from the City of Athol. She did this by writing fraudulent checks to herself and her husband and using the wires to transfer money between different city accounts.
The maximum penalty for each count is up to 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, three years of supervised release and $100 special assessment.”
Our January 10, 2015, post entitled “They Just Didn’t Do It” provided some details about how Hansen committed her crimes. With city officials paying little attention to what she was doing, it wasn’t difficult.
Ms. Hansen (and her husband) stole money from every man, woman and child in the City of Athol, all whilst being a neighbor, friend and trusted city employee. For her plea of guilt, she will receive some sort of punishment. What is truly unfortunate about this is that the embezzled amount will likely never be repaid.
The most repugnant of all of this, however, is the turning a blind eye by the City Council members. It appears that they have absolutely no business acumen whatsoever, don’t give a damn about procedures and codes (annual audits) and most certainly don’t give a damn if the citizens are appalled or not.
Nothing will change with this current City Council in place. The constant contemptuous vocalizations between some members of the Council and the Mayor are horrifying to the citizens; their attitude towards the citizens is disdainful and condescending.
It is disappointing to see the citizens of Athol disparaged with no change in sight. They are the true victims here.
Comment by LucyA — January 22, 2015 @ 2:38 pm
LucyA,
You have my sympathy and empathy. We have the same problem in Coeur d’Alene with our immediate past and present mayors and some members of the City Council. The best course of action for honest citizens in Idaho cities and counties with similar misconduct is to try and get the allegations investigated and prosecuted federally. The state criminal justice system in Idaho is about as bad as I’ve seen anywhere. That leaves honest citizens with few alternatives — nowhere to turn. In some instances the misconduct is due to mere laziness or utter incompetence rather than criminal intent by the officials. That is most often the dodgy reason offered by those who want to excuse the misconduct or who have a duty to investigate, prosecute, and adjudicate but want to evade those duties.
There are times when it worse. The usual response to concerns about public corruption in Idaho is, “Well, if you don’t like it, vote ’em out.” We’ve begun to have a little success with that in Kootenai County, but whether it will be enough to prevail is anybody’s guess.
Comment by Bill — January 22, 2015 @ 3:13 pm
I remember when CDA Councilman Gookin suggested that the council go over the budget (part of the job of council) you would have thought someone loudly passed gas in church. When I was working I would have loved to have a council that didn’t want to review because it might insult staff, I would have had a new fire truck every year.
Every politician that has ever ran for office has an agenda, it is up to the public to keep that agenda from conflicting with the public interest. I am not saying that the agenda’s are inherently bad just that sometimes misguided. Pay attention or accept the consequences.
Comment by Mike Teague — January 28, 2015 @ 11:27 am
Mike,
Good observations.
It’s not enough that the elected officials go over the financial documents though. They also need to ensure that the employees and professional services contractors are diligent in performing their duties. That was the message in your last line: “Pay attention or accept the consequences.”
Comment by Bill — January 28, 2015 @ 12:36 pm