Continuing coverage
The Springfield News-Sun has been covering the accusations against Bob Suver and Jean Chepp since the release of the state audit a year ago. We’ve dug into other off-the-books county bank accounts and followed the legal proceedings for months.
By the numbers
$25,000: Finding for recovery issued by a state audit against Bob Suver and Jean Chepp
$1,400: Money sent to Clark County from the state and noted as from debtor Bob Suver
$20,000: Money given to Rocking Horse by the county each year for a community education event
A special prosecutor has determined no criminal charges are warranted against two former Clark County employees accused of funneling public money to a campaign fund.
There isn’t enough evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the money in question was ever public, Special Prosecutor Robert Smith said in a letter to Clark County Prosecutor Andrew Wilson.
“I’m humbled and thankful to be vindicated,” former Clark County Department of Job and Family Services Director Bob Suver said. “My family and I have been under a cloud for a year.”
But Suver and former Fiscal Administrator Jean Chepp could still be on the hook for a $25,000 audit finding.
State auditors issued a finding for recovery in October against the pair, accusing them of using two off-the-book accounts to move a check from the non-profit Rocking Horse Center to DJFS’s Children Services levy campaign in 2010.
The check, according to auditors and Clark County Administrator Nathan Kennedy, was a reimbursement to the county from several years of hosting a co-sponsored community education event. Each year the county gave $20,000 to Rocking Horse with the understanding that any unused money and a portion of any profits from ticket sales would come back to the county, Kennedy said.
But the contract for the event didn’t include any reference to these reimbursements. If an agreement existed, Smith said it was likely only a verbal one between Suver and former Rocking Horse Director Dana Engle.
Suver and Chepp maintain that the check from Rocking Horse had nothing to do with those contracted events and was simply a donation from a private organization to a levy campaign fund. It inadvertently got routed through a long-standing Clark County Children’s Home savings and checking account before a check was written to the campaign.
“None of the money that went to the levy campaign was related to the money under contract,” their attorney Dan Harkins said.
The audit accused the county agency of “going rogue” by using public money for a campaign contribution.
The Ohio Attorney General’s office has already collected on the finding, withholding Suver’s tax return, he said. A check arrived at the Clark County administrator’s office last week for more than $1,400 with just a note listing Suver as the debtor.
Beyond that, Kennedy said he doesn’t know what’s happening with the audit finding.
Smith was only tasked with examining the case from a criminal perspective, he said.
“You really had two different issues here,” Smith said.
The finding for recovery has been certified over to the attorney general and it will be up to that office to decide if it wants to pursue the money through civil court. A representative from Attorney General Mike DeWine’s office didn’t respond by deadline Thursday.
Suver and Chepp said they were verbally informed that the recovery of the funds won’t be pursued, but they have yet to see anything in writing to that effect.
“I kind of knew that would be the outcome all along,” Chepp said of the decision not to prosecute the case. “I never felt like there was anything wrong with our accounts or our contracts.”
Kennedy likewise said he wasn’t surprised by the prosecutor’s decision because there was no way to prove the verbal agreement he believes was made between Suver and Engle. He still wants the county to be paid back the money because he said it overpaid on the Rocking Horse event contract with the understanding that some of that money would be coming back.
The state may have enough evidence for a civil case, Kennedy said, even though there wasn’t enough to pursue criminal charges.
Suver and Chepp also take issue with the audit’s findings and Smith’s statements regarding the Clark County Children’s Home accounts through which the money passed before going to the levy fund.
“This account was not approved by the Board of County Commissioners, the County Treasurer or the County Auditor, all of whom were unaware of the account,” Smith said in his letter.
But the Springfield News-Sun reported in December that these accounts were disclosed annually.
“Every year it had been filed with the county auditor,” Suver said. “That account had been audited in the past.”
Auditors only took a look at these accounts in 2014 because Kennedy inquired about them, Suver said. He’s frustrated that what he calls lies have been spread about him over the past several years for “political gain.”
Kennedy denies that the audit was personal, saying he’s just looking out for the county’s finances. He’s also heard, but not seen officially in writing, that the state won’t pursue repayment of the money.
“I find it odd that the state auditor himself said one thing, and now they are rescinding it,” Kennedy said.
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