Council to pay for audit without using tax dollars

The fired clerk has pleaded innocent to theft and records-tampering charges.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- City council appropriated $80,000 Wednesday to pay the state auditor's office for a special audit triggered by the disappearance of more than $25,000 from the municipal court clerk's office.
Judith M. DeJacimo, 49, of Glen Drive Northeast, a former deputy clerk in the court's civil division, who had been with the court since 1993, was fired after the money was found missing in November. DeJacimo pleaded innocent to two counts of theft in office and one count of tampering with records.
The audit, which began last month and is expected to be completed in October, is being paid for from the municipal court's special projects fund. A portion of fines paid goes to that fund, city Auditor David Griffing said, adding that no tax dollars are being used to pay for the audit.
"The general fund is not being charged for any of these costs," Griffing said. The general fund is the city's main operating fund.
The state auditor's office will bill the city monthly for the staff hours used in the audit, in which up to five auditors are at the court daily, Griffing said. The special audit, which is separate from the regular annual audits of the court, was ordered by municipal Judges Thomas P. Gysegem and Terry F. Ivanchak.
What happened
The auditors have been examining 2005 records in detail and plan to sample the records of previous years to determine whether any additional money is missing, Griffing said.
A grand jury indictment charges DeJacimo with stealing by "taking cash paid to the court for filing fees, costs and other obligations and by shorting the amount of money paid by the court to recipients of garnished wages" between January and November 2005.
The indictment also charges her with falsifying computer records concerning amounts received from garnishment checks, entering fake check numbers for false amounts and deleting records of receipts to conceal her theft from the court and from recipients of garnished wages.
The city will try to collect what is owed to recipients of garnished wages from DeJacimo, if possible, and alternatively from the bonding company, which insures city employees for up to $25,000 per crime loss, with a $10,000 deductible, Griffing said.
In response to a civil suit by the municipal court, Judge Peter Kontos of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court issued a restraining order to prevent DeJacimo from spending any money that may have been embezzled from the municipal court.