Missing cash in Leesburg police evidence room reported in state audit

Nearly $3,000 was identified as missing from the Village of Leesburg (Highland County) police evidence room in an audit report released by Auditor of State Dave Yost.

The resulting investigation led to the June 5 indictment of former Leesburg police officer Duane Bussey on charges of theft and tampering with evidence, according to Yost.

“I applaud the prosecutor for obtaining this indictment,” Auditor Yost said. “The first responsibility of every government is to police itself, and that duty is greatest for police officers, who take the oath to enforce the law.”

Highland County Sheriff Ron Ward said that Bussey's whereabouts are not currently known, and he has not yet been served with the indictment.

"An indictment was issued as a summons," Ward told The Highland County Press after learning of the state auditor's announcement. "His last known address was in Illinois, and we are working with authorities in that city. We know that he is not living at his last known address, but we are checking to see if he is possibly in that area to make service on the summons on the indictment."

Ward said that his office became involved with the investigation "after the village of Leesburg found some irregularities in their audit regarding their police evidence room. Detectives from my office worked with Ohio BCI (Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation) and the state auditor's office, and as a result of the investigation, the case was presented to the grand jury."

Highland County Prosecutor Anneka Collins declined to comment on the investigations as it is a pending case.

Ward said they will continue to seek Bussey to serve the indictment.

"If we are unable to locate him after a reasonable amount of time, we will be back in touch with the prosecutor to ask that the summons be changed to a warrant for his arrest," Ward said.

Under the Ohio Revised Code, the persons responsible for administering the missing property are held accountable for it, resulting in findings for recovery in the amount of $2,841 against Bussey, who resigned in October 2010.
 

Because Ohio law provides for secondary responsibility for those with supervisory authority over public funds, a finding for recovery was also issued against the police chief and the bonding company.

Other, non-monetary findings in the audit noted a lack of accounting controls to ensure that transactions are posted to the proper accounts.