CICERO -- CNY Central Investigative Reporter Jim Kenyon has uncovered a potential scandal in the Town of Cicero Justice Court.
Kenyon has obtained a copy of a November accountant's report that found questionable accounting procedures and financial irregularities involving thousands of dollars in bail money, checks and other deposits.
Cicero Town Supervisor Judy Boyke, says she ordered the justice audit be turned over to Chief Administrative Judge Tormey for further investigation. Tormey's office tells Kenyon that the matter is now in the hands of the New York State Office of Court Administration in New York City. Court Administration Spokesperson David Bookstaver said, "We're taking it seriously. We are aware of the financial discrepancies. Judge Tormey asked that the State Court Administration's audit unit come in."
Sources also tell CNY Central that Onondaga County District Attorney Bill Fitzpatrick's office is also looking into potential criminal involvement.
Supervisor Boyke told Kenyon she requested the outside accountant's report after an internal review discovered the Town "couldn't balance the accounts." The Bowers & Company CPA's investigatation covered the years 2005 to 2009.
In the accounts attributed to Judge Carl Putzer's court, the report uncovered $3,475 in questionable transactions. That includes an $850 check deposit regarding small claims submitted to the state, $2,180 in bail money that "needs further investigation", and $445 in "comptroller reconciliation that needs further investigation." Putzer told Kenyon that he's left the court. He said he was aware of some financial problems but felt they were corrected. Putzer says he has not seen the accountant's report.
The accountants also looked at the books in Judge Robert Walczyk's court from 2005 to 2009. They found $8,515 in improperly recoded deposits and a $12,000 discrepancy between what was deposited into a bank account and what was reported in the computer system that "will need further investigation". They also found a $16,000 overpayment to the state in which deposit slips were filled out, but no deposits were made. In addition, the report says $11,500 in bail money that was refunded to defendants but never recorded as deposits and "forfeited bail never submitted to the Cicero comptroller."
Reached Friday. Judge Walczyk said, "I don't have any comment with respect to that report. We've advised Judge Tormey."
Earlier this week, Judge Walczyk confirmed to Kenyon that he is investigating a complaint by John Delooze that $5,000 in bail money, which he posted in 2003, is missing. Walczyk confirmed that the courts 2003 receipt book is missing. Walczyk said he will be working throughout the weekend to try to determine what happened to the money.
Delooze told Kenyon that "something fishy" has happened to the money he was owed.
Click here to download and read a report from accounting firm Bowers & Company on this case.
