No criminal charges after correctional services audit reports

CEDAR RAPIDS - There will be no criminal charges after two audits showed misspending by the 6th Judicial District Department of Correctional Services, according to a letter from the Iowa Attorney General's Office.

State Auditor's reports, released in January 2014 and last month, showed the district based in Cedar Rapids misspent nearly $2 million over 14 years by allowing district employees to work on behalf of a non-profit created to aid the district. The probes did not indicate anyone benefitted personally by the spending.

'After a review of the information available to the Iowa Attorney General's Office it is determined that there is insufficient evidence to support criminal charges,” Scott Brown, assistant attorney general wrote in an Aug. 5 letter to district Director Bruce Vander Sanden. 'There was no evidence that money was stolen or misappropriated for personal gain.”

Vander Sanden presented highlights from the letter at a Board of Corrections meeting Friday in Cedar Rapids.

'We are pleased the auditor's office and AG's office have concluded there's no wrongdoing,” he said. 'The staff have continued to fulfill our mission, even with the distraction.”

Linn County Attorney Jerry Vander Sanden asked the attorney general's office in February 2014 to review the auditor's initial report to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest because he is Bruce Vander Sanden's brother.

The Jan. 10, 2014, report identified $776,000 in improper disbursements from fiscal years 2009 through 2012. More than $440,000 of the spending came from district managers spending part of their time doing work for the Community Corrections Improvement Association, a non-profit started in 1991 by former district director Gary Hinzman.

The audit showed the non-profit was improperly using state vehicles, cellphones and office space for free.

A July addendum identified $1.19 million more in improper spending by extending the review period and examining two more district employees who spent time working with CCIA.

The district made massive changes since the 2014 audit, severing ties with the non-profit and reducing vacation time. The district took over a CCIA-operated Batterer's Education Program in 2012. Without the district support, the non-profit has announced it will close by the end of the year.

Iowa's correctional services districts provide probation and parole programming to Iowa offenders. The 6th District serves Linn, Johnson, Jones, Iowa, Benton and Tama counties.

Department of Corrections Acting Director Jerry Bartruff announced at Friday's meeting he is creating a new position in Des Moines for a deputy director of community-based corrections. Sally Kramer, director of the 5th district correctional services, will take that post.

'It gives them a direct line to Central Office,” Bartruff said of the eight districts.