The Arizona Auditor General has issued a fraud alert as a result of several investigations it has conducted.
According to the Auditor General, office, the office issued several reports on instances of criminal activity in which government employees falsified public documents, resulting in at least $137,560 of public monies being misused many fraud schemes in which public documents had been forged and filed in a public office.
The alert “outlines how public officials can exercise appropriate oversight to help protect public monies and records.”
The Auditor General recommends that public officials should ensure that they:
• Separate cash-handling and public recordkeeping responsibilities among employees;
• Objectively scrutinize public records that support transactions to ensure they are true and genuine; and
• Develop policies to secure and properly safeguard public documents.
In May, the Auditor General found that from January 2011 to April 2012, Michael Gaul, former culinary arts program teacher and student Chef’s Club sponsor at Kingman High School in the Kingman Unified School District (District), “employed a fraud scheme and embezzled $12,918 by creating false invoices to arrange for customers to issue checks payable in his name. Mr. Gaul was able to receive 18 checks and either deposit or cash them using his personal bank accounts and spent these public monies on his personal living expenses. On May 5, 2014, the Mohave County Attorney’s Office filed a criminal complaint with the Mohave County Superior Court, alleging that Mr. Gaul committed theft, misuse of public monies, and fraudulent schemes against the District.”