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State Auditor Completes Investigation Into Weapons Classes Coordinated By Carroll County Sheriff’s Office Employees

Auditor for the State of Iowa, Mary Mosiman , released a detailed report today (Thursday) on an investigation initiated last fall regarding permit to carry weapons classes that were being offered at the Carroll County Courthouse from Jan. 1, 2011 through Oct. 20, 2016. A complaint had been filed with her office regarding Carroll County Sheriff’s Office employees privately conducting the classes and collecting fees. The audit goes back to 2011, as on Jan. 1 of that year, the Code of Iowa was revised to require the issuance of weapons permits by County Sheriff’s Offices to all applicants who had fulfilled the necessary requirements, including completion of a valid permit to carry class. Mosiman cites several codes that have shown the collected fees for the classes belong to the county, as those administering the classes, Deputy Tom Fransen and administrative assistant, Shauna Balukoff, are both employees of the Sheriff’s Office. In addition, the classes were taught in the courthouse, county equipment and supplies were used, flyers and advertisements included the Sheriff’s Office phone number as a primary point of contact and the certificates issued for completion state they were sponsored by the office. The 43-page report goes into detail on how Fransen and Balukoff say they were operating the classes outside of the scope of their duties with the Sheriff’s Office, that courthouse public meeting room use for the classes is available to the general public at no charge and the equipment being used for the classes did belong to the county but was, according to IT Director, Carl Wilburn, outmoded and kept in a storage room on courthouse property. The audit states that the more than $128,710 in class fees are considered undeposited collections for the county. And though there are no indications of how the undeposited collections will be handled, Mosiman does make a recommendation that policies and procedures should be developed and implemented to ensure all collections received are deposited in a County bank account in a timely manner. Other recommendations have the Sheriff’s office developing policies and procedures for the use of the courthouse or other county facilities, including fees and restrictions, and determining whether the classes from this point forward will be offered by the Sheriff’s Office or privately with county employees being allowed to teach them. Mosiman says copies of the report have been filed with Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI), the Carroll County Attorney’s Office and the Attorney General’s Office. Carroll Broadcasting has contacted the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office and will bring you more details as they become available.

 

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