Financial Wrongdoing in Buchanan County MO

FINANCIAL MISMANAGEMENT
NEW: 20-year history of financial wrongdoing in Buchanan County

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (AP) _ Buchanan County makes changes after three public administrators in 20 years are caught up in financial wrongdoing investigations.

The latest is Bonnie Sue Lawson. She resigned August 21st after a St. Joseph detective asserted money had been taken from at least three of her clients' accounts without authorization or court orders.

An investigation is under way. But no criminal charges have been filed.

Public administrators take charge of the estates of people who have died or are too young or sick to handle the responsibility. But the elected officials do so only if no one else is available to do the job.

To reduce the risk of future problems, Buchanan County has dropped its fee-based system in which the public administrator reaps the fees from handling client accounts.

The county has adopted a system in which the public administrator is paid a salary and the county receives the fees.

KAIT-Ch 8 ABC Jonesboro AR
http://www.kait8.com/Global/story.asp?S=1986497&nav=0jsf

KSHB TV NBC Kansas City MO

Topix.net Buchanan County MO News

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We wonder how much money Sharron Payne, Butler County Public Administrator, made using poor Mary Lee Grobe as her excuse. Everytime we called (even though Sharron wouldn't pick up the phone when we called and certainly wouldn't return our calls) Sharron charged Mary Lee Grobe's account. Everytime we sent her a letter (even though Sharron didn't write a letter back in response to our questions) she charged Mary Lee Grobe's account. But of course Sharron wouldn't spend any money on her poor client who desperately needed nutritious food, dry shelter, glasses, and a hearing aid. Sharron ignore us and she ignored Mary Lee Grobe's needs.

We hope that someday Public Administrators will have adequate supervision and this much needed oversight will weed out the criminals.