In violation of policy
These are the Bradley County offices whose credit card use violated policies, either for lack of detailed receipts, unsigned charges or use in town with no explanation.Office No receipt Unsigned In-town TotalSheriff 29 111 6 146Rescue 9 33 6 48Assessor 8 15 0 23EMA 1 3 7 11Mayor 5 5 0 10Source: Comptroller’s office
SHERIFF’S OFFICE SPENDING
The Times Free Press examined credit card statements and receipts from the Bradley County Sheriff’s Office for Sheriff Eric Watson’s first year in office and found numerous questionable charges, including:› A $1,297 charge to a Massachusetts novelty shop when Watson bought 218 angel clips for BCSO staff Christmas gifts in 2014.“It would be difficult to say there is a government purpose for the use of those funds” for such a purchase,” James Arnette, director of the comptroller’s Division of Local Audit, said earlier this year.› A pair of art prints — graphics depicting lions — Watson bought at the National Law Enforcement Museum during a 2014 car-buying trip with his wife to Washington, D.C., in November 2014. Sources in the BCSO say the prints aren’t displayed in the department.› Nearly $1,000 in expenses for two extra motel nights and a rental vehicle during a law enforcement conference in Las Vegas in 2015.Watson first said the extra nights for himself and his budget director, Richard McAllister, were because they flew earlier to save money, and 854 miles on the rental car was for some “old-fashioned sightseeing” when the violent-crimes conference wasn’t in session.Later, he said the pair went early to check out clues in the disappearance of Joe Keller, the Bradley County man who disappeared in July 2105 in Colorado and whose bones were found there in January.› More than $500 to rent a car for a woman after McAllister backed his personal truck, towing a county trailer, into her vehicle in a parking lot in June 2015.Watson said he and McAllister were at Ed’s Cycles in Cleveland to pick up the BCSO’s Honda Rancher. But county records show the Honda had been sold weeks before and sources in the sheriff’s office said they were there to pick up Watson’s personal four-wheeler. The same sources said $217 in ATV accessories charged to the county credit card were for Watson’s personal use, which he denies.
Bradley County’s mayor is threatening to shut down local officials’ access to the county credit card after state auditors found widespread documentation problems that leave the card open for improper use.
The annual audit by the Tennessee Comptroller’s Office found more than half the county credit card transactions last year lacked signatures, detailed receipts, or were used in town rather than for travel.
County employees swiped the county card 430 times in the 2015-16 fiscal year, auditors said, and 238 of those purchases lacked adequate documentation. By far the greatest number was the sheriff’s office, with 146 purchases lacking either detailed receipts or signatures, or made locally with no explanation. County policy says the credit card is to be used only for travel, and any local use must be explained in writing.