Platte County Treasurer Rob Willard is in danger of losing his job as the Platte County Commission called on him to personally pay back $20,000 still missing following an email spoof scam in late May.
Just before Memorial Day weekend, Willard fell victim to the scam.
According to Willard, he received an email from a scammer posing as Platte County Presiding Commissioner Ron Scheiber. The email urgently asked for a $48,220 wire transfer be made to cover for "consultant fees."
Due to the urgency and timeliness of the email, Willard said he felt the need to bypass proper procedure to get the money sent. However, it was all a scam and $48,220 in taxpayer money was lost.
Since then, investigators have been able to recover $28,000.
With $20,000 still needing to be recovered, a letter released this week calls on Willard to personally pay back the missing money, plus about $1,000 in county legal fees.
"Rob is a good person, I like Rob," explained Commissioner Duane Soper. "It was a very unfortunate this happened, but it did."
In the letter, commissioners gave Willard until June 21 to pay the money or they would pull from a special insurance bond in his name.
"We preferred to go this route because at that point, it's not going to be anymore cost to the taxpayer," Soper said.
Since news of the email scam broke, county commissioners have frequently pointed to proper procedures they say Willard did not follow when he wired the money. An audit recently released in Platte County outlined the proper procedure, saying Willard needed the approval of two commissioners and the auditor to wire the money.
County leaders say Willard failed to properly get the approval when he wired the money, and therefore he should face penalties.
In a separate letter sent to Platte County Prosecuting Attorney Eric Zahnd this week, county commissioners stated Willard could face a misdemeanor charge and be forced to withdraw from his post since he did not follow the state statutes. However, on Wednesday afternoon, Zahnd responded by saying his office is not "an investigative agency" and the commissioners should instead contact the Platte County Sheriff's Office or Platte City police for further investigating.
When contacted by 41 Action News on Wednesday, Willard said his decision to wire the money without proper county approval was "a mistake, not malice."
Willard also said no intent was involved, and he believed he was compliant at the time of the transfer.
Public response
Platte County taxpayers are split on whether the treasurer should face penalties for his decision to wire the money.
"There's some way that money should come back," said Olin Miller, who has lived in the county for 64 years. "It's not the taxpayers' fault, it's this particular office holder."
Others, like barber Ron Pine, said Willard simply made a mistake.
"I don't think he had any criminal intent," Pine explained. "I don't even know the person. I think he was just a victim of a scam."
Moving forward, county commissioners said they may ask a judge for a special prosecutor to look into the case and see if any criminal action was done by Willard.
In the end, Soper said the goal is to make Platte County "whole again."
"The ultimate goal is to just get the money back," he explained. "Taxpayers don't deserve to be out $20,000."
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Tom Dempsey can be reached at Tom.Dempsey@KSHB.com.
