Though he stopped short of calling it possible embezzlement, Frankfort Mayor Chris McBarnes says he’s handed over information relating to the dismissal of his former parks superintendent.
“We placed this individual on paid administrative leave, we secured the entire office, we conducted an investigation and the evidence that we found that our internal control standards and materiality threshold standards have been broken.”
The discoveries made in that investigation are now in the hands of the Clinton County Prosecutor’s office and the Indiana State Board of Accounts.
Earlier this month, Joel Tatum left his job overseeing the parks department due to what McBarnes and Frankfort Clerk-Treasurer Judy Sheets called a “material breach” of “internal controls.”
McBarnes says it stems from a possible violations of State Board of Accounts rules put into place in 2016.
On its website, the agency refers to violations of the so-called “materiality threshold” in terms of theft of money or property.
Calls to Tatum’s home seeking comment were not immediately returned Thursday.