EDITORIAL: Replacing money in court clerk’s office right move

Jan. 08--The Glynn County Commission is doing the right thing in filing insurance claims to begin trying to replace money that was allegedly stolen and is missing from the Superior Court clerk's coffers.

Commissioners voted unanimously Thursday to replace $250,000 of the money that a GBI forensic audit could not account for in 2016. Another $250,000 could be coming soon. That is a lot of money, but it is still not even half of the $673,000 the audit found had vanished from accounts managed by the clerk's office. Those accounts include the child support receiver account, Superior Court escrow account and Magistrate escrow account.

What is worse, an audit that is now moving into its second year is looking at a wider range of dates, as far back as a decade, to discover the extent of the alleged theft. Auditors and clerk Ron Adams believe the amount could be even more than what the GBI found.

The good news is that child support receivers have continued to get their court-ordered checks. The bad news is taxpayer money that has paid insurance premiums for years is being used to replace what is missing. As Commissioner Mike Browning said this week, it is not the government's tax revenue that was allegedly stolen.

Still, making the clerk's office whole is important. The clerk's office manages public records and doles out payments ordered by the court. Insurance bonds are carried on the office for this very reason, which is why the commissioners are wise to file claims.

More importantly, we are happy to see Adams, who has been pushing for action on the missing money since he was clerk-elect, taking this matter so seriously and cooperating with the county commissioners and administration. Commissioners say that was not the case with previous clerks.

We hope his leadership in this matter and all clerk matters will get his office running smoothly, more efficiently and with oversight that will not allow future thefts. Annual audits repeatedly showed shenanigans were possibly taking place under the nose of the previous clerk's administration, but no action was taken until it was too late.

Now that the office taking a step toward being made whole, it is time to ensure anyone evidence shows was involved in the theft is prosecuted and the message is sent such actions will not be tolerated.

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