Former Floyd County employee accused of improperly handling funds intended for sexual assault victims

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

A former Floyd County employee is being linked by the Iowa Auditor’s Office to the alleged improper handling of more than $1,500 in her position as a member of the county Sexual Assault Response Team.

The report, released by Auditor of State Rob Sand on Tuesday, says that Janelle Herrmann, the former Floyd County Attorney’s Office victim and witness coordinator, was involved with “$1,524.40 of improper disbursements, $113.47 of unsupported disbursements, and $313.00 of undeposited collections.”

An audit was performed by the state office at the request of Floyd County officials, and the results have been turned over to the Floyd County Sheriff’s Office, the Floyd County Attorney’s Office, the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation and the Iowa Attorney General’s Office, the report said.

Herrmann was terminated from her employment with the County Attorney’s Office on May 4, 2020.

The Floyd County Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) is a partnership of the Floyd County Attorney’s Office, the Sheriff’s Department, Charles City Police Department, Floyd County Medical Center and Crisis Intervention Service.

“The mission of SART is to bring awareness and education to sexual assault and to financially assist victims with expenses such as those incurred during the prosecution process,” the state auditor’s report said.

Part of Herrmann’s duties as the Floyd County victim and witness coordinator was to participate in the county SART.

The organization’s only funding source was the proceeds from an annual 5K fundraising race that had been held since 2018. Herrmann handled the fundraising activities for the event, including soliciting donations from sponsor businesses and managing a PayPal account and another online account for race registrations.

County Attorney Rachel Ginbey and Herrmann “were the only individuals with access to the SART account, but Ms. Herrmann was responsible for handling all transactions associated with the account,” the report said.

“SART financial activity is separately maintained from the County Attorney’s Office’s financial activity. Because SART is considered a separate entity from Floyd County, financial transactions are not part of the county’s accounting system,” the report said.

A review of SART financial activity by a representative of the Sheriff’s Office had allegedly identified possible undeposited collections and personal purchases made by Herrmann with SART funds. It was also discovered that Herrmann had allegedly acquired a debit card linked to the checking account without Ginbey’s knowledge, the report said.

The Sheriff’s Office review also showed that Herrmann had allegedly used SART funds to purchase a $200 prepaid debit card.

“As a result of the concerns identified with the SART account, officials from the Floyd County Sheriff’s Office and County Attorney’s Office contacted the Office of Auditor of State,” the report said.

The Iowa Auditor’s Office investigated the period from March 1, 2016, through July 31, 2020. Herrmann was the county victim and witness coordinator from May 19, 2013, through May 4, 2020.

Included in the alleged $1,524.40 of improper disbursements is $1,006.05 of cash withdrawals and entertainment expenses, several of them made at the Diamond Jo Casino in Northwood; $175 of registration fees for 5K race participants, and $140.48 of purchases using a prepaid debit card, the audit report says.

The alleged improper disbursements identified also include $202.87 paid to vendors for unnecessary or personal expenses, the report says.

“In a letter to the county attorney after her termination, Ms. Herrmann advised she had accidently used the SART debit card instead of her personal debit card and she returned $640 to the County Attorney’s Office,” the report said.

The $313 of alleged undeposited collections identified includes $288 in undeposited proceeds from T-shirt sales and a $25 registration fee deposited into Herrmann’s personal account, the report says. The $113.47 of unsupported disbursements identified includes purchases for which sufficient documentation was not available.

The report includes recommendations to strengthen SART’s internal controls and overall operations, such as segregation of duties, performing independent review of bank reconciliations, and ensuring all disbursements are properly supported, reviewed, and approved.

“Based on our observations and the procedures we performed, we determined County Attorney’s Office officials failed to exercise proper fiduciary oversight,” the state report said. “The lack of appropriate oversight and the failure to ensure implementation of adequate internal controls permitted an employee to exercise too much control over the operations of the SART funds.”