IAPE Evidence Blog

Plain Dealer (Cleve­land, OH)
BYLINE: Amanda Gar­rett, Plain Dealer Reporter

Cleve­land, OH

Brate­nahl mis­spent about $20,000 of tax money on worker pay­checks and booze in 2007 and 2008, accord­ing to a state audit that also crit­i­cized the village’s finan­cial controls.

Most of the squan­dered money — about $13,600 — ended up in the pocket of for­mer Police Chief Paul Fal­zone, who retired last Feb­ru­ary after a Plain Dealer inves­ti­ga­tion revealed that guns, large amounts of heroin and cocaine and thou­sands of dol­lars in cash were miss­ing from the police prop­erty room.

Fal­zone, 64, is sched­uled to stand trial next week on charges of obstruct­ing offi­cial busi­ness and theft in office.

The crim­i­nal charges appear to have noth­ing to do with the over­pay­ment revealed in papers released Thurs­day by state Audi­tor Mary Tay­lor. The charges are rooted in Falzone’s failed 2008 bid for sher­iff, which pros­e­cu­tors con­tend he ran from his Brate­nahl office, direct­ing offi­cers to cam­paign for him while on the job.

Brate­nahl Mayor John Licas­tro said Thurs­day that the prob­lems revealed in the audit have been addressed.

“Human beings make mis­takes … you allow them a chance to learn from those mis­takes,” Licas­tro said.

“I want to assure every­one that the tax dol­lars will be reimbursed.”

Here’s what the state audi­tor said the vil­lage of lake­front man­sions, high-rise con­dos and dead-end lanes mis­spent money on — along with the mayor’s expla­na­tion of what hap­pened and how the mat­ter was resolved:

Fal­zone: A Brate­nahl clerk in April 2008 mis­tak­enly paid Fal­zone a lump sum of $9,767 for wage increases and other police pay that the clerk thought Fal­zone was owed for the pre­vi­ous three years.

Oper­at­ing under the same belief, the clerk then adjusted Falzone’s future pay, bump­ing up his twice-monthly salary by $95.45. In Decem­ber 2008, the clerk mis­tak­enly paid Fal­zone $1,527 more, believ­ing Fal­zone was also owed that money.

Licas­tro said the clerk made an “hon­est mis­take” and that the auditor’s office has met with Fal­zone about return­ing the money. Falzone’s attor­ney, Roger Synen­berg, said Thurs­day that he was unaware the audit said his client was overpaid.

It is unclear whether Fal­zone intends to pay back the vil­lage, but the auditor’s office said Thurs­day the state attor­ney gen­eral or the coun­try pros­e­cu­tor could seek repayment.

Hol­i­day pay: A vil­lage clerk mis­tak­enly paid seven vil­lage work­ers, includ­ing Fal­zone, about $1,500 in hol­i­day pay.

Licas­tro again blamed the error on an “hon­est mis­take,” adding: “We have full faith in the com­pe­tency of our staff.”

He said every­one but Fal­zone repaid the money. Fal­zone, the audit showed, owes $367.65.

Liquor: The vil­lage recre­ation com­mis­sion — one paid worker and vol­un­teers — spent about $2,000 on wine and liquor for wine tast­ings, an art show and a retire­ment party.

Licas­tro said there is noth­ing in law pre­vent­ing munic­i­pal gov­ern­ments from spend­ing money on liquor. The Vil­lage Coun­cil, how­ever, was unaware of a 2003 state audi­tor bul­letin stat­ing that using pub­lic money for liquor pur­chases is inap­pro­pri­ate. He said the coun­cil won’t repeat that mistake.

Peo­ple have since donated money to reim­burse the vil­lage. Licas­tro said he didn’t know who made the donations.

Three upcom­ing wine tast­ings will be paid for by dona­tions, he said.

Vil­lage account­ing: In a let­ter to the coun­cil, Tay­lor wrote that her office has “not opined on the effec­tive­ness of the village’s inter­nal con­trol.” But two para­graphs later, she wrote that the prob­lems turned up by the audit reveal “sig­nif­i­cant defi­cien­cies in inter­nal con­trol over finan­cial reporting.”

Licas­tro said the vil­lage has set aside money for the state to return and do a per­for­mance audit, exam­in­ing how the vil­lage does busi­ness and rec­om­mend­ing ways to improve.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: agarrett@plaind.com, 216 – 999-4814

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