COLUMBIANA CO. COURT '99 card misuse called a mistake

The credit card company alerted the court to the request for a cash advance.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON -- Judge C. Ashley Pike is defending his handling of a 1999 episode in which one of his employees used a county credit card to get a cash advance while in Las Vegas and was never disciplined for the activity.
Judge Pike -- now common pleas judge, but in 1999 in charge of probate and juvenile courts -- said Wednesday he examined the matter himself, rather than refer it to law enforcement officials or the prosecutor.
The judge determined then that the employee, Dane Walton, was a good worker, had done nothing criminal and had quickly repaid the money, which the judge said was several hundred dollars.
Walton, court director at the time, went unpunished, though the judge said he knew that Walton had used the county card some years before the 1999 Las Vegas episode to buy his parents dinner and then repaid the charge.
Described as mistakes
In both cases, Walton said he used the county card by mistake.
"The fact that it happened two times was disturbing. I didn't have any reason to believe it was intentional," the judge said Wednesday.
Judge Pike also said he didn't see a need to have the matter evaluated by law enforcement officials.
"There was negligence but no indication of criminality," Judge Pike said. "It's not my duty to turn something over to a prosecutor that I think is a forgone conclusion."
Prosecutor Robert Herron, who mounted a criminal probe this week into questionable credit card uses by health Commissioner Robert Morehead, was unavailable to comment.
Like Walton, Morehead also has defended his actions partly by saying he mistakenly used a county credit card instead of his own.
Walton, 44, now the court's administrator, said Wednesday he continues to feel embarrassed by what he said were two innocent mistakes.
"It was not an intent to steal money," said Walton, who has been with the court for about 17 years.
He said he voluntarily stopped carrying a county credit card after the Las Vegas episode.
Walton wouldn't say why he wanted the cash during the 1999 trip. He wouldn't answer when asked if he needed the money for gambling; nor would he say if he gambled during the excursion.
The court continues to send employees, including Walton, to Las Vegas for seminars.
Flagged by card issuer
The cash advance on the county card during the May 1999 Vegas trip was discovered when the credit card company's security division called court offices in Lisbon, Judge Pike said.
The credit card company "thought it was unusual that a government credit card was used for a cash advance," the judge said.
A court employee notified Walton in Las Vegas. Walton repaid the amount -- he said he couldn't remember how much it was -- soon after returning from the trip.
Walton said Wednesday that, at the time, he had a personal debit card that was issued by the same bank as the county credit card. The two cards looked similar, which contributed to the mix-up, he said.
The 1999 cash advance, which has not previously been publicized, came to light Wednesday after a series of stories in The Vindicator detailing questionable county government expenditures in several areas, including personal use of county-issued credit cards.
Morehead's use of a county-issued credit card in 2003 for personal items has sparked a criminal probe and a state audit.
leigh@vindy.com