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    6 8 16 Public Statement

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    4K views2 pages

    6 8 16 Public Statement

    Uploaded by

    NEWS CENTER Maine
    6 8 16 Public Statement

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    of 2

    Colleen Hilton

    Mayor
    Chilton@westbrook.me.us

    2 York Street
    Westbrook, Maine 04092
    Phone: (207)591-8126
    Fax: (866)405-0776

    Jerre R. Bryant
    City Administrator
    jbryant@westbrook.me.us

    To:
    General Distribution
    From: Mayor Colleen Hilton
    Re:
    Public Announcement
    Date: June 8, 2016
    It is my responsibility as your Mayor to report that the City of Westbrook has recently been the
    victim of a crime, an internal embezzlement by a former employee. Initial evidence of this
    incident was brought to the citys attention by local agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
    and a Westbrook Police Officer, currently on assignment with the bureau. The FBI had been
    alerted to suspicious transactions involving the private bank accounts of a Westbrook city
    employee. Following some preliminary investigation work and meetings between law
    enforcement, the employee and the city, the employee was immediately discharged. Subsequent
    interviews with the former city employee, a focused examination of city financial records by the
    FBI, the citys independent auditor and the citys Chief Financial Officer confirmed that the
    embezzlement had taken place between July, 2015 and April, 2016. While the investigation
    continues, it appears that $118,000 was skimmed from cash deposits over the nine-month period.
    Based on the evidence gathered by the FBI and our own review of transaction records, we
    understand how the diversion of funds was executed. In response to this information, the city
    has revised its reconciliation and bank deposit procedures, increased redundancy in that process
    and further separated responsibilities among multiple employees. The citys independent audit
    firm has been engaged to perform additional testing of existing procedures and policy
    compliance verification. In addition to addressing operations, staffing and procedures within the
    Finance Department, the Citys Human Resources Director is reviewing city hiring practices to
    assure that the scope and depth of background investigations of potential hires, particularly those
    involved in city finances, is commensurate with the positions being filled.
    It is important to emphasize that there is no evidence that anyones private information has been
    accessed or compromised in any way. There has been no impact on the validity of any
    individual customer transactions or tax payments. The point in the process that was breached
    does not involve individual accounts nor did it access private information or transactions.
    The legal and financial investigation into this matter is still ongoing and no charges have yet
    been filed against the former employee. Therefore, the city is not at liberty at this time to
    identify the individual or to divulge the specifics of this matter.

    This incident is of grave concern to me, as your Mayor, and to the members of my
    Administration. The realignment of functions and responsibilities and the development of
    additional checks and balances in our financial processes will be an open process, involving
    input, analysis and recommendations from a variety of sources. The security of public funds
    and, more importantly, the public trust is paramount. Our response to this incident will be fully
    transparent to you, the resident and taxpayer.

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