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Missouri State Auditor: FBI contacted regarding Carroll County Ambulance District funds

Carroll County Ambulance District.jpg
Posted at 2:40 PM, Nov 28, 2022
and last updated 2022-11-28 15:40:56-05

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Missouri State Auditor will forward its findings from an audit of the Carroll County Ambulance District to the FBI for a possible criminal investigation.

The auditor’s office released a report Nov. 23 which detailed its findings that the ambulance district’s former director, Mario DeFelice, misappropriated nearly $92,000 in taxpayer funds.

During a 10-month span from June 1, 2020, through March 31, 2021, the auditor’s office found that DeFelice paid himself nearly $55,000 in unauthorized overtime, retention and holiday pay and also altered payroll submissions 19 times, resulting in more than $29,000 in overpayments in addition to other accounting issues.

“We have contacted the FBI and are in the process of forwarding our findings to them,” Eric Slusher, the communications director for the state auditor’s office, told KSHB 41 News via email.

An FBI spokeswoman said Monday she “can neither confirm or deny the existence of an investigation” in a statement to KSHB 41.

Carroll County is located about 70 miles northeast of the Kansas City area.The Carroll County Ambulance District Board of Directors alerted the Missouri State Auditor’s Office to the possibly criminal misappropriation of taxpayer dollars after it “became suspicious of spending that was occurring under the direction of the previous administrator,” according to a statement signed by board chair Karen Miller and Chiefs of EMS/Administrator Joe Campbell.

DeFelice was “relieved of his duties” in March 2021 and the board, which initiated the whistleblower complaint, asked the state auditor to review its financial records at that time.

“Carroll County Ambulance District board and current administration cooperated fully with the Auditor’s office with complete transparency during the course of the audit,” according to the letter from Campbell and Miller.

The Missouri State Auditor and Carroll County Ambulance District Board of Directors “agreed that the majority of the issues found during the audited time period had already been corrected by the current Administrator and current Board of Directors,” according to the letter.

Additional issues raised by the audit report were corrected before the findings were made public, according to Miller and Campbell.

“Carroll County Ambulance District has made massive improvements since May of 2021 in our operations, oversight, accountability, and transparency. We have been blessed in the ability to grow and foster strong relationships with all of our local government officials, public safety departments, and hospital [sic] in our county,” the letter from Miller and Campbell said. “We look forward to continuing to grow and move forward from this chapter in our history.”

While the status of the criminal probe remains uncertain, the “Carroll County Ambulance District Board of Directors have vowed to completely cooperate with any and all law enforcement agencies during the course of any criminal investigation,” Campbell and Miller said in their joint statement.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol and Carroll County Sheriff’s Office told KSHB 41 News last week they had not been contacted to investigate the misappropriated funds.

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