A former Coconino County official who oversaw the Navajo County Health Department was charged with 16 cases of theft, misuse of public funds and fraud, according to court records.
The indictment announced on Tuesday follows a state investigation that found Jeffrey Lee used shopping cards issued in both counties for personal gain and to falsify information on records. Navajo County said he was paid administrative leave Tuesday.
“We want to reassure our residents and partners in the community that the Navajo County Health Department will continue to provide high quality and much-needed services uninterruptedly,” district chief Glenn Kephart said in a statement.
Lee referred the Associated Press to his attorney Ryan Stevens, who said on Wednesday that he is still reviewing the documents and declining to comment. Lee is due to appear in the Flagstaff court in January.
Lee worked for Coconino County as an emergency preparedness manager from August 2012 to April 2017 when he took up the position in Navajo County, where accountants claimed he continued to spend public funds on personal items.
According to the audit, Lee used his Coconino County card to purchase $ 82,550 gift cards and spend them on his family’s cell phone services, a clothes dryer, items for his personal equipment store, and electronics. About 40 of the 237 purchases were made by Lee on holidays, weekends or vacations, the exam says.
The audit also found that Lee had forged information in the county’s accounting system to create the impression that the purchases were for legitimate county’s business. In one instance, Lee rented a RV and boat storage facility in Flagstaff with Coconino County funds that he used for a personal trailer, rather than a county emergency storage facility, he said.
Lee told the auditors that these allegations were “flaws” and that the county would be reimbursed. County spokesman Eric Peterson said Wednesday that Coconino county has no record of this and will seek repayment through the judicial process.
“Under the law, anyone who misuses public funds is personally liable for them,” he told the Associated Press. “I am unaware of what I know of the situation of any other party other than the county taxpayers who have been the victims of these purchases.”
In Navajo County, Lee reimbursed $ 9,148 after saying he used the “wrong card” to pay a wireless operator, a restaurant bill and a contribution to a memorial. But the audit found that Lee did not do so until county officials requested the repayment after discovering that the purchases were not for the county business and Lee had falsified information.
Navajo County spokesman Bryan Layton said the charges were determined during an annual audit in early 2020. Lee was forced to surrender the credit card and return the money, and was put on unpaid vacation for five days. The county was unaware of the investigation into Lee’s Coconino County purchase at the time, he said.
“On its own, we didn’t feel that the policy violations needed to be terminated at this point,” Layton told the Associated Press.
Coconino County filed for state scrutiny in September 2017 after it found questionable expenses in fulfilling a public record application, Peterson said. The state audit also accused the counties of not having adequate controls to verify credit cards issued to employees. Coconino County, for example, did not require Lee to list receipts and pay for transactions without reviewing them, the accountants wrote.
The districts said they had strengthened their processes, but the auditor’s report said they can do more to protect public funds.
James Jayne, Coconino county manager, said the annual training and detailed revenue guidelines are expected to be finalized early next year.
“Coconino County is very careful about public spending,” he said in a statement.
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