April 05--The state Bureau of Criminal Investigation is looking into possible misuse of public funds by the Delaware County sheriff, according to the county prosecutor's office.
A spokeswoman for Prosecutor Carol O'Brien said yesterday that her office received allegations over the past few months of the misuse of money in the sheriff's office. A spokeswoman for the Ohio attorney general's office, which oversees the bureau, confirmed there is an investigation.
The prosecutor's office would not specify what is being investigated, but questions have been raised about how Sheriff Walter L. Davis III spent so-called furtherance of justice funds. Those funds are county tax dollars that prosecutors and sheriffs receive each year to "provide for expenses that the official incurs in the performance of the official's duties and in the furtherance of justice."
The money can be spent on a wide range of activities, including training, retirement parties and candy to give out at parades.
After The Dispatch requested copies of the receipts from the FOJ fund last month, Davis said on March 21 that the allegations of misspending are fueled by malcontents in his office.
"So they send anonymous emails, and all it does is cause our office work, because they don't want to work," he said. "It's very stressful and discouraging to me.
"This is why you can't get good people (to run for office), because of this kind of stuff."
He described himself as "a straight shooter" who is holding employees accountable.
Davis received $2,366.50 last year in checks drawn on his FOJ account, the largest of which was a Sept. 5 check for more than $1,200 for expenses during part of the 10 weeks he spent at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Va., from July through September. A news release a few days after he returned from the academy touted the training Davis received and the fact that the FBI paid for travel, lodging and meals.
Most of the receipts documenting the expenses were for meals in and around the training academy, where Davis stayed and ate most of the time. They are mostly for Starbucks purchases, fast-food restaurants or other small meals and gasoline.
Larger amounts include $132 on Aug. 11 for renting a car Davis apparently drove to the Marriot Crystal Gateway in Arlington, 30 miles away from Quantico. He paid $54 to park the car at the hotel that Friday evening and ate several meals there on Sunday afternoon, according to his parking receipts.
Earlier in his training, he also rented a car on the weekend of July 29, apparently when his family visited. Davis ate at two restaurants in Arlington, Va. One receipt shows a kids' meal.
Davis said he stayed at a hotel in Washington, D.C., and did not charge that to the county.
He also rented a car the weekend of Aug. 25.
Davis said he could have rented a car the entire time he was at Quantico but decided to forgo a car except for those weekends, when he wanted to sightsee.
"I needed a break, and I went to Washington," he said.
Copyright 2012 - The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio
