BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Erie County Comptroller Kevin Hardwick said about $114,000 in taxpayer money is missing from the Erie County Clerk's Office.
"What upsets me, and I know it upsets a lot of other people, is that someone who's been taking money, over a hundred thousand dollars from the county, and probably a lot more, is still on the county payroll collecting a paycheck," Hardwick said.
A new nine-page analysis of the clerk's office account and deposit activity shows discrepancies and signs of tampering. Hardwick said that there is mounting evidence of this happening from January of 2022 to June of this year and part of that evidence points to deposit tickets filled out by individual cashiers.
"They all fill out their own deposit tickets so when the money goes to the bank at night there's not just one deposit ticket there's a bunch of them, and some of them it's obvious they've been altered it was not their handwriting that we've noticed on previous deposit tickets. Someone had to go in there probably taking some cash and filled out a different deposit ticket," Hardwick said.
He added nothing has been missing since June 12th. He said the evidence has been turned in to the Erie County Sheriff's and District Attorney's office.
"We're waiting to see on those smoking guns whose fingerprints the sheriff finds," Hardwick said.
7 News' Kristen Mirand did reach out to the county clerk's office about this. The office sent this statement:
"I have grave concerns about the Erie County Comptroller disclosing information pertaining to an ongoing investigation.
This public disclosure has potentially jeopardized months of legitimate investigative work by both the Erie County Sheriff and District Attorney.
I have the utmost confidence in law enforcement and their abilities to conduct a thorough examination of the facts."
Hardwick said while they are continuing to work with the clerk's office this audit allows them to remedy some of the past practices so that this doesn't happen again.
