Burleigh County Drug Fund Being Kept Off County Books, Handled By Sheriff’s Family

Tweet

Written By:
Rob Port

Oct 21, 2010
2:23pm

Some explosive developments in the Burleigh County Sheriff’s race today from former Sheriff Steve Berg who is challenging current Sheriff Pat Heinert.

PlainsDaily.com has the full report on the allegations, which encompass wasteful spending, an improper bidding process and (perhaps most troubling) this:

Berg also announced the existence of an account that is not on the county books or the Sheriff’s Department ledger.

As part of a packet of information that Berg distributed to those gathered for the press conference he detailed an account that is the depository for funds gathered by the Burleigh County Sheriff from drug seizures. Berg alleges that the account has not been reconciled and does not appear in the county books or as a line-item in the department budget.

“Things appear to have been purchased like slings and flashlights that should be on the line-item but are not,” he stated. “These types of things occurred before I became Sheriff, I got rid of them and now they are back.”

Berg also claims that the administration of the account in question is dubious. He says the money and assets are being overseen by the “in-laws” of current Sheriff Pat Heinert.

I don’t know that there’s any indication that these drug funds have been misspent, but typically an accounting of such funds is kept by the county auditor. To have these sort of funds not only kept off the county books, and thus away from public scrutiny, but also in a private account managed by the sheriff’s family is entirely improper.

Allowing these drug funds to be handled in this manner is a recipe for abuse and fraud, if it hasn’t happened already.

The voters need to fire Heinert, and a full accounting of these drug funds needs to be made.