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Irregular News for 05.31.06
Portsmouth, VA -- State Police are investigating whether Gary Waters, the city’s former sheriff, misappropriated office supplies and used inmate labor to spruce up a family member’s home.
The investigation is the second launched this year into what happened late in Waters’ 24-year tenure as sheriff.
It is uncertain how much property is at issue in the investigation. However, thousands of dollars worth of property and resources, such as labor, can neither be explained nor be accounted for by the Sheriff’s Office.
Waters has refused to answer questions since The Virginian-Pilot contacted him in January about uses of political money that the Portsmouth Electoral Board said might have brought him personal gain.
“I’m not a public official anymore,” Waters said earlier this year . “I wish you’d quit calling me.”
Reached by phone last week , Waters again refused to answer questions.
“I’m just a private citizen trying to live my life. … I’ve moved to Florida,” he said. “I no longer live in Virginia. You’ve run me out of town.”
Now that he is retired, information about how he handled public and political affairs has emerged. Public records and interviews show a pattern of questionable spending under Waters, who was elected as a reformer and eventually led the city’s dominant Democratic committee.
In his powerful, largely autonomous office, Waters supervised 170 people and managed a budget of about $11 million .
Some records that might show whether he and his workers handled department resources properly are missing.
Special Agent Jenny Brown , an accountant, is investigating for the State Police. The agency initially confirmed the investigation last month but has declined to answer questions since.
Part of the investigation is an allegation that an inmate work crew toiled at a private home at 3307 Nelson St. The house was being sold early last year by Waters’ now ex-wife. The sale was on behalf of her mother , according to a court record.
Inmates emptied garbage and cleared brush from the property, according to three deputies who were ordered to supervise the work.
Deputy Wilbert Culpepper said Waters didn’t directly order the work but was present for some of it.
“I knew it wasn’t right, but who could I complain to?” Culpepper said.
Neighbors remembered a brown van parked out front. It had a star on it, said Meta Robinson , who at the time lived with her family across the street. She was glad the property was cleaned up, but said: “It’s our tax-paying dollars.”
The deputies said they were unsure of the dates they were there and the number of inmates involved. The labor is worth $8.40 an hour per inmate, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Under state law, a sheriff found to have used inmate labor on property in which he or his family has an interest could face a misdemeanor criminal charge.
The Virginian-Pilot requested logs to show who worked at the home and for how long. The Sheriff’s Office could not find about a year’s worth of records, including those requested. Officials also could not explain the gap.
“You didn’t question. You just did,” said Anna Earnhardt , fiscal affairs officer for the sheriff since last summer.
“He was the boss,” said Maj. William Rucker , the chief of corrections, speaking about Waters. “He wanted things done a certain way.”
Besides questioning Waters’ use of the inmate work crew, another state inquiry into his campaign spending is under way.
At the request of the Electoral Board in February , Commonwealth’s Attorney Earle Mobley is reviewing how Waters used his political coffers.
That followed a review by The Pilot , which showed that Waters bought items such as a computer with political contributions. He also got memberships at the YMCA and in fraternal organizations .
At times, he claimed in campaign disclosure records that payments were going to charity when they were for memberships .
After this, The Pilot began reviewing records of public funds Waters oversaw.
Sheriff Bill Watson , who defeated Waters last year in a primary and the general election, and other officials cannot explain expenditures Waters made from those funds.
They have been unable to find property, such as a computer Waters used and flat-screen televisions purchased for the jail.
Watson could not find an inventory of office property, which means he can’t say whether items were disposed of properly.
Watson also could not provide documentation of the use of proceeds from vending machines. When The Pilot requested records, the office had to contact the vending machine company to find out how much money had come in.
Vending machines raised about $1,400 in 2005 . The commission from those sales came in monthly checks made out to Waters, Earnhardt said.
She was told to turn checks over to Waters, she added.
Joanna Deal , Earnhardt’s predecessor, said, “Everything did go directly to him, and he did the accounting on that.”
“We’re not accusing anyone of anything,” Watson said. “We just don’t have any records.”
The Pilot reviewed Sheriff’s Office records including ledgers, receipts, invoices and copies of checks.
The records show Waters used proceeds from the jail canteen , a store in which inmates can purchase snacks or supplies , for items that did not appear to benefit inmates. The profits are supposed to be used for inmates.
Instead, canteen funds were used to buy tickets to a retirement dinner , for Waters to sponsor a golf tournament and for deputies’ golf fees.
Walter Kucharski , the state’s auditor of public accounts, said those did not sound like appropriate expenditures.
Canteen money also was used to pay bills Waters incurred on his public credit card. Other credit card bills were paid through the city finance department, according to Sheriff’s Office records.
Waters used his public credit card to purchase four pairs of gloves from a gift shop at the Louisville Slugger Museum in Louisville, Ky. , in June . Travel records he filed show he was there for a conference.
“They’re driving gloves,” said Crystal Barajas , a cashier at the shop.
The gloves cost $165 .
Using his public credit card in 2004 , Waters bought books on gambling, including “Gamble to Win Craps.”
The book sells for $15.95 . Waters received a discount of $3.19 from Barnes & Noble Booksellers in Chesapeake and paid no sales tax . Waters got the tax break because his office was treated like a nonprofit. Canteen money paid the credit card bill.
Some books Waters purchased may benefit inmates, but books about gambling don’t belong in the jail, Rucker said.
Waters mixed the job with getting re-elected, according to former staffers. Campaign meetings were held in the sheriff’s public office, said D.A. Johnson , a sergeant who worked on Waters’ final campaign.
He said an investigator from the State Police interviewed him about how Waters used property and manpower and how his campaign worked. However, Special Agent Brown said State Police are not reviewing the campaign.
Johnson said he was not the campaign treasurer for the write-in effort Waters undertook after losing the primary. However, because he trusted Waters, he signed blank checks and a statement he had not prepared.
Waters kept campaign records in a “campaign cabinet” in his work office and had a laptop that was used for political matters, such as keeping a roster of donors, said Deal, the former fiscal official campaign treasurer, for Waters.
Waters took over those duties during the last election cycle.
Officials in Watson’s administration said Waters’ desktop computer was the one he spent $1,100 from his campaign coffers to buy. They don’t know what records were on the computer.
Deputy B.K. Barnes of the computer services division said Waters’ hard drive was to be wiped clean, but instead it was delivered to Waters.
“It was put into his computer at the house,” said Barnes, who said he visited Waters’ house in January to help him use the new set-up and access his records.
“The only concern was his documents,” Barnes said. “What they are, I couldn’t tell you.”
Waters used another computer, a laptop, said Lisa White , his former spokeswoman. It was one of two, including one she used, purchased by the Sheriff’s Office in 2004 at a Circuit City .
Barnes said he found White’s computer in an inventory of property ordered by Watson. Using a serial number on the receipt, he could not find the other.
He had not known of its existence until The Pilot provided a copy of the receipt obtained from the Sheriff’s Office.
New questions have arisen about Waters’ campaign organization, which filed its final report May 8 . Among other things, Waters donated $300 to Watson, the man who replaced him as sheriff.
The Pilot obtained internal campaign records tha t show that Waters’ political organization did not accurately report names of benefactors, including a jail contractor.
In the four years before he left office, Waters did not report the names of people who gave him some of the political money he raised after his 2001 re-election , according to a review of his campaign financial disclosure statements.
Many contributions may have been less than the $100 threshold over which donors should be identified, meaning names could be withheld. Yet the internal campaign records show some contributors gave more than $100.
Failure to report the names is a violation of Virginia campaign finance law, said Chris Piper , a state campaign finance administrator.
Among those who contributed was state Del. Johnny Joannou , a longtime supporter of his fellow Democrat.
In campaign disclosure statements, Waters reported a $250 contribution from Joannou’s campaign organization in 2003 . Waters did not report a $100 contribution from Joannou later that year.
Joannou also contributed $500 in July 2004 . The delegate reported giving it in his own campaign records, but the former sheriff never reported receiving it.
Waters sponsored golf tournaments in which donors were not named .
The Pilot obtained internal campaign records from the tournaments in 2002 and 2003 . Though the records appear to be only a partial sampling of his donors, they show he failed to report names behind nearly $3,600 that he took in. Contributors included Prison Health Services , a jail contractor that confirmed it donated $668 in 2003 . The Waters campaign never reported the donor by name, the records show.
Election law also requires that candidates report when a donor gives more than $100 over time. Otherwise, campaigns could hide giving by taking in several contributions from the same donor in increments of less than $100.
For example, lawyer Gregory Matthews confirmed he made a $100 donation to Waters to sponsor a hole at Waters’ golf tournament in 2002 . On its own, the payment did not have to be reported by Waters. Matthews contributed an additional $100 the next year, bringing his contribution to $200 . That sum wasn’t reported with Matthews’ name.
As Waters’ former campaign treasurer, Deal said she signed reports that did not disclose the donations. Deal said she drew a distinction between contributions to golf tournaments and other contributions.
“It wasn’t necessarily considered a specific donation,” she said in an interview earlier this year. “It was reported in with the golf income.”
Election law does not draw that distinction.
As he left office, Waters disposed of surplus campaign money, including giving monetary “Christmas gifts” to supporters, records show. He gave gifts in $100 or $50 increments to a relative and supporters.
In December , inmates spent 816 man hours painting, cleaning and decorating a Virginia National Guard Armory in preparation for Waters’ annual holiday party. Logs show several inmates worked at the armory for 13 days .
The holiday party was financed in part by Waters’ campaign, records show.
“It was a long, sometimes rough, sometimes happy ride,” he said, thanking supporters that night.
Waters appeared to allude to the DUI that he pleaded guilty to in 2004 .
“Drive safe,” Waters said. “Believe me, it’s not worth it.”
Depending on the year, campaign funds paid for decorations, ABC licenses or a disc jockey, records show. Waters sometimes cut himself $500 checks to cover expenses that aren’t explained in campaign records. In 2003 , he reimbursed himself $1,000 .
It is not certain who paid bills for food and drink at the December party. His records don’t say.
“I’ve got a lot of friends,” Waters said during his last days as the sheriff. “Believe it or not.”
Those friends gave him a going-away gift. It was cash, wrapped in an envelope.
source
Portsmouth, VA -- State Police are investigating whether Gary Waters, the city’s former sheriff, misappropriated office supplies and used inmate labor to spruce up a family member’s home.
The investigation is the second launched this year into what happened late in Waters’ 24-year tenure as sheriff.
It is uncertain how much property is at issue in the investigation. However, thousands of dollars worth of property and resources, such as labor, can neither be explained nor be accounted for by the Sheriff’s Office.
Waters has refused to answer questions since The Virginian-Pilot contacted him in January about uses of political money that the Portsmouth Electoral Board said might have brought him personal gain.
“I’m not a public official anymore,” Waters said earlier this year . “I wish you’d quit calling me.”
Reached by phone last week , Waters again refused to answer questions.
“I’m just a private citizen trying to live my life. … I’ve moved to Florida,” he said. “I no longer live in Virginia. You’ve run me out of town.”
Now that he is retired, information about how he handled public and political affairs has emerged. Public records and interviews show a pattern of questionable spending under Waters, who was elected as a reformer and eventually led the city’s dominant Democratic committee.
In his powerful, largely autonomous office, Waters supervised 170 people and managed a budget of about $11 million .
Some records that might show whether he and his workers handled department resources properly are missing.
Special Agent Jenny Brown , an accountant, is investigating for the State Police. The agency initially confirmed the investigation last month but has declined to answer questions since.
Part of the investigation is an allegation that an inmate work crew toiled at a private home at 3307 Nelson St. The house was being sold early last year by Waters’ now ex-wife. The sale was on behalf of her mother , according to a court record.
Inmates emptied garbage and cleared brush from the property, according to three deputies who were ordered to supervise the work.
Deputy Wilbert Culpepper said Waters didn’t directly order the work but was present for some of it.
“I knew it wasn’t right, but who could I complain to?” Culpepper said.
Neighbors remembered a brown van parked out front. It had a star on it, said Meta Robinson , who at the time lived with her family across the street. She was glad the property was cleaned up, but said: “It’s our tax-paying dollars.”
The deputies said they were unsure of the dates they were there and the number of inmates involved. The labor is worth $8.40 an hour per inmate, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Under state law, a sheriff found to have used inmate labor on property in which he or his family has an interest could face a misdemeanor criminal charge.
The Virginian-Pilot requested logs to show who worked at the home and for how long. The Sheriff’s Office could not find about a year’s worth of records, including those requested. Officials also could not explain the gap.
“You didn’t question. You just did,” said Anna Earnhardt , fiscal affairs officer for the sheriff since last summer.
“He was the boss,” said Maj. William Rucker , the chief of corrections, speaking about Waters. “He wanted things done a certain way.”
Besides questioning Waters’ use of the inmate work crew, another state inquiry into his campaign spending is under way.
At the request of the Electoral Board in February , Commonwealth’s Attorney Earle Mobley is reviewing how Waters used his political coffers.
That followed a review by The Pilot , which showed that Waters bought items such as a computer with political contributions. He also got memberships at the YMCA and in fraternal organizations .
At times, he claimed in campaign disclosure records that payments were going to charity when they were for memberships .
After this, The Pilot began reviewing records of public funds Waters oversaw.
Sheriff Bill Watson , who defeated Waters last year in a primary and the general election, and other officials cannot explain expenditures Waters made from those funds.
They have been unable to find property, such as a computer Waters used and flat-screen televisions purchased for the jail.
Watson could not find an inventory of office property, which means he can’t say whether items were disposed of properly.
Watson also could not provide documentation of the use of proceeds from vending machines. When The Pilot requested records, the office had to contact the vending machine company to find out how much money had come in.
Vending machines raised about $1,400 in 2005 . The commission from those sales came in monthly checks made out to Waters, Earnhardt said.
She was told to turn checks over to Waters, she added.
Joanna Deal , Earnhardt’s predecessor, said, “Everything did go directly to him, and he did the accounting on that.”
“We’re not accusing anyone of anything,” Watson said. “We just don’t have any records.”
The Pilot reviewed Sheriff’s Office records including ledgers, receipts, invoices and copies of checks.
The records show Waters used proceeds from the jail canteen , a store in which inmates can purchase snacks or supplies , for items that did not appear to benefit inmates. The profits are supposed to be used for inmates.
Instead, canteen funds were used to buy tickets to a retirement dinner , for Waters to sponsor a golf tournament and for deputies’ golf fees.
Walter Kucharski , the state’s auditor of public accounts, said those did not sound like appropriate expenditures.
Canteen money also was used to pay bills Waters incurred on his public credit card. Other credit card bills were paid through the city finance department, according to Sheriff’s Office records.
Waters used his public credit card to purchase four pairs of gloves from a gift shop at the Louisville Slugger Museum in Louisville, Ky. , in June . Travel records he filed show he was there for a conference.
“They’re driving gloves,” said Crystal Barajas , a cashier at the shop.
The gloves cost $165 .
Using his public credit card in 2004 , Waters bought books on gambling, including “Gamble to Win Craps.”
The book sells for $15.95 . Waters received a discount of $3.19 from Barnes & Noble Booksellers in Chesapeake and paid no sales tax . Waters got the tax break because his office was treated like a nonprofit. Canteen money paid the credit card bill.
Some books Waters purchased may benefit inmates, but books about gambling don’t belong in the jail, Rucker said.
Waters mixed the job with getting re-elected, according to former staffers. Campaign meetings were held in the sheriff’s public office, said D.A. Johnson , a sergeant who worked on Waters’ final campaign.
He said an investigator from the State Police interviewed him about how Waters used property and manpower and how his campaign worked. However, Special Agent Brown said State Police are not reviewing the campaign.
Johnson said he was not the campaign treasurer for the write-in effort Waters undertook after losing the primary. However, because he trusted Waters, he signed blank checks and a statement he had not prepared.
Waters kept campaign records in a “campaign cabinet” in his work office and had a laptop that was used for political matters, such as keeping a roster of donors, said Deal, the former fiscal official campaign treasurer, for Waters.
Waters took over those duties during the last election cycle.
Officials in Watson’s administration said Waters’ desktop computer was the one he spent $1,100 from his campaign coffers to buy. They don’t know what records were on the computer.
Deputy B.K. Barnes of the computer services division said Waters’ hard drive was to be wiped clean, but instead it was delivered to Waters.
“It was put into his computer at the house,” said Barnes, who said he visited Waters’ house in January to help him use the new set-up and access his records.
“The only concern was his documents,” Barnes said. “What they are, I couldn’t tell you.”
Waters used another computer, a laptop, said Lisa White , his former spokeswoman. It was one of two, including one she used, purchased by the Sheriff’s Office in 2004 at a Circuit City .
Barnes said he found White’s computer in an inventory of property ordered by Watson. Using a serial number on the receipt, he could not find the other.
He had not known of its existence until The Pilot provided a copy of the receipt obtained from the Sheriff’s Office.
New questions have arisen about Waters’ campaign organization, which filed its final report May 8 . Among other things, Waters donated $300 to Watson, the man who replaced him as sheriff.
The Pilot obtained internal campaign records tha t show that Waters’ political organization did not accurately report names of benefactors, including a jail contractor.
In the four years before he left office, Waters did not report the names of people who gave him some of the political money he raised after his 2001 re-election , according to a review of his campaign financial disclosure statements.
Many contributions may have been less than the $100 threshold over which donors should be identified, meaning names could be withheld. Yet the internal campaign records show some contributors gave more than $100.
Failure to report the names is a violation of Virginia campaign finance law, said Chris Piper , a state campaign finance administrator.
Among those who contributed was state Del. Johnny Joannou , a longtime supporter of his fellow Democrat.
In campaign disclosure statements, Waters reported a $250 contribution from Joannou’s campaign organization in 2003 . Waters did not report a $100 contribution from Joannou later that year.
Joannou also contributed $500 in July 2004 . The delegate reported giving it in his own campaign records, but the former sheriff never reported receiving it.
Waters sponsored golf tournaments in which donors were not named .
The Pilot obtained internal campaign records from the tournaments in 2002 and 2003 . Though the records appear to be only a partial sampling of his donors, they show he failed to report names behind nearly $3,600 that he took in. Contributors included Prison Health Services , a jail contractor that confirmed it donated $668 in 2003 . The Waters campaign never reported the donor by name, the records show.
Election law also requires that candidates report when a donor gives more than $100 over time. Otherwise, campaigns could hide giving by taking in several contributions from the same donor in increments of less than $100.
For example, lawyer Gregory Matthews confirmed he made a $100 donation to Waters to sponsor a hole at Waters’ golf tournament in 2002 . On its own, the payment did not have to be reported by Waters. Matthews contributed an additional $100 the next year, bringing his contribution to $200 . That sum wasn’t reported with Matthews’ name.
As Waters’ former campaign treasurer, Deal said she signed reports that did not disclose the donations. Deal said she drew a distinction between contributions to golf tournaments and other contributions.
“It wasn’t necessarily considered a specific donation,” she said in an interview earlier this year. “It was reported in with the golf income.”
Election law does not draw that distinction.
As he left office, Waters disposed of surplus campaign money, including giving monetary “Christmas gifts” to supporters, records show. He gave gifts in $100 or $50 increments to a relative and supporters.
In December , inmates spent 816 man hours painting, cleaning and decorating a Virginia National Guard Armory in preparation for Waters’ annual holiday party. Logs show several inmates worked at the armory for 13 days .
The holiday party was financed in part by Waters’ campaign, records show.
“It was a long, sometimes rough, sometimes happy ride,” he said, thanking supporters that night.
Waters appeared to allude to the DUI that he pleaded guilty to in 2004 .
“Drive safe,” Waters said. “Believe me, it’s not worth it.”
Depending on the year, campaign funds paid for decorations, ABC licenses or a disc jockey, records show. Waters sometimes cut himself $500 checks to cover expenses that aren’t explained in campaign records. In 2003 , he reimbursed himself $1,000 .
It is not certain who paid bills for food and drink at the December party. His records don’t say.
“I’ve got a lot of friends,” Waters said during his last days as the sheriff. “Believe it or not.”
Those friends gave him a going-away gift. It was cash, wrapped in an envelope.
source