State Auditor Shad White issued the following statement.
Today
State Auditor Shad White announced Special Agents from his office have
arrested Larry Ross, Tax Collector of Alcorn County, after he was
indicted for two counts of embezzlement and one count of making
a fraudulent statement by a local grand jury. Upon his arrest, Ross was
issued a demand letter showing he owes $69,155.23 to taxpayers in
Alcorn County. This amount includes interest and investigative expenses.
In
addition to ensuring property taxes are collected appropriately, the
Alcorn County Tax Collector’s office under Ross is responsible for the
sale of vehicle license tags. Ross allegedly embezzled
from the county by taking cash he obtained from recycling unused
vehicle license tags. He also allegedly took cash from fees collected by
the office. Investigators also found evidence Ross created and signed
fraudulent bills of sale as Tax Collector. From
March 2012 through March 2020, Ross purportedly embezzled $2,689.58
from Alcorn County.
In
addition to the criminal findings, Ross is allegedly responsible for
losses to the county in the amounts of $43,746.48 and $5,478.81 through
waiving late penalties associated with the licensing
and registration of motor vehicles.
Ross surrendered to Special Agents at the Alcorn County Jail today. His bond was set at $10,000 by the court.
If
convicted, Ross faces up to 45 years in prison and $20,000 in fines. A
conviction would also prevent him from serving as an elected official in
the future. All persons arrested by the Mississippi
Office of the State Auditor are presumed innocent until proven guilty
in a court of law. The case will be prosecuted by the office of District
John Weddell.
“We are committed to stopping theft of public dollars in Mississippi, no matter when or where we find it,” said Auditor White.
A
$10,000.00 surety bond covers Ross’ time as Tax Collector of Alcorn
County. A surety bond is similar to insurance designed to protect
taxpayers from corruption. Ross will remain personally liable
for the full amount of the demand in addition to criminal proceedings.
Suspected fraud can be reported to the Auditor’s office online any time by clicking the red button at www.osa.ms.gov or via telephone during normal business hours at 1-(800)-321-1275.
34 comments:
it never stops-
Since when do you get to take your own mug shot?
Shad found all kind of crap with former DOC executive director.
( New furniture, meditation rooms with Himalayan mountain music, and such)
Gawd. . . I hope Chad found some Himalayan mountain music in this dude's office as well.
After all, this guy has the "look" of a Alcorn County Yoga Master.
Or are they called a Aw-kawn Yogi ?
I'm not saying the guy should get a pass. But, the majority of the "fraud", $50k, is for waiving late penalties. Seems like a horrible guy to want to help out his fellow Alcorn citizens by giving them a break.
Appears that his embezzling was only $2,600 and the rest was waiving late fees, interest and investigative costs. If I understand this correctly, the theft was pretty small time compared to even personal use of county vehicles by county officials.
When are the outlaws, present and former, in Canton Municipal Utilities going to be indicted? Seems like low hanging fruit.
I hope Shad White doesn't run for governor. Three more years as auditor and eight as governor is too little time to have a guy that does a really good job serving Mississippi.
Hey Shad, serve another five terms as auditor then spend eight years as the governor. Thirty one more years of Type A competence could really help this state.
Peanuts
Waiving late fees may generate kickbacks of the percentage waived.
"Mr. Jackson, I will waive your late fees...wink, wink, nudge, nudge."
If i was on the jury, I see more Robin Hood than i do a bandit.
Canton, like Sullivan's Hollow down in Simpson County (was), is off limits to investigators, revenoors, bloodhounds and nosey outsiders. Just ask the last two State Auditors. Or three. Or four.
"From March 2012 through March 2020, Ross purportedly embezzled $2,689.58 from Alcorn County." So the guy supposedly stole less than $3,000 over three years? Either he was a terrible thief or this is much ado about nothing. My vote is for the latter. Seems like Auditor White looking for another headline.
Sorry Shad. This one looks excessive to me.
Is Hugh Freeze beyond the statute of limitations?
A guy tries to better himself and everyone wants to jump on him. Shame on the PoPo folks. Jealousy I bet.
Waiving fees is embezzlement under the Shad regime? Good gravy--this is small ball. Go for this big stuff, son.
GOOD LORD! $2700 over 8 years...they done caught TATERTOT SALAD! This guy must be the Al Capone of Alcorn County!
In related news, Shad White personally kicked in the door of a nursery school whose owner, he alleged, had swiped a box of pencils when she retired from 30 years of teaching elementary school. Actually, it turns out that "swiped" may be too strong a word. It seems out one of the TAs helping her pack last year only had a vague idea of what they were and figured something so ancient must belong to the old gal, so she put them in one of her boxes. It's a real shame Shad Tased her. Actually, "shame" may be too strong a word since she settled with the State for a substantial amount.
Seriously, while theft is theft, I suspect he might find some bigger fish if he'll look just a little bit harder.
8:45 - Need help with Math?
More is coming. Look for another indictment or criminal information from DOR over 6 figures.
I keep seeing canton municipal utilities pop up. I seem to remember mention of a “non existent” tornado insurance plan. That appears to be low hanging fruit. Let’s go get it, and the jail is currently populated well blow capacity. The jail can be a financial success when properly filled.
11:19pm I wish this site had GIFs. I would add the one with Michael Jackson munching down popcorn to this comment. This is the kind of bust that should get our attention. Oh, and following through on the TANF fraud which is the biggest plum of all.
The investigative costs and interest expense by my calculation appears to be over $17,000. Thank goodness for a $100,000 surety bond (not $10,000 - typo). Keep the amount under the surety - easy collection, easy headline.
Like finding a wallet on the ground.
more low hanging fruit. Representatives don't go to Jackson for the $22,000 a year salary. Still waiting on him, or any State Auditor, to take a look at where the real corruption is, in Mississippi. Problem is, it's tough to bite off the hand that feeds you.
11:19
Need more specifics
Waiving late fees may generate kickbacks of the percentage waived.
Or may be a very convenient way to buy votes with taxpayers' money, perhaps without them even knowing that waiving the fees was allegedly illegal.
They should audit CMU. When John Wallace was at CMU, over $20 million was illegally transferred out to the city of Canton. I read that little bit of information when reading the details of the Gluckstadt incorporation and Canton annexation case. And CMU has admitted it was illegal and has now ceased doing it.
7:56 They may, but did they? Nothing in the press release to indicate he got anything back for waiving the penalties. He failed at the duties of his job, but that is not embezzlement. What's next? Every chief of police or public official that gets a ticket dismissed is suddenly guilty of embezzlement too?
Now taking the cash from recycling old license plates is just stupid, but small potatoes in the grand scheme of things. This guy actually seems like he tries to do things right so it wouldn't surprise me if it turns out he used the cash for county expenditures.
Shad is just looking to make a name for himself and ride the State Auditor position to bigger and brighter political positions. He's following the Mabus and Bryant path. Wonder if he'll challenge Tater next time around.
How dare, Shad White, do his job. This simply will not be tolerated.
"After all, this guy has the "look" of a Alcorn County Yoga Master." Sorry, I though you said Yoda Master. My mistake.
Agree with the CMU commentators, but I'd add City Hall as well. Packed to the gills up there. But, we all know he will never grow a set that big.
Canton, at both the municipal and county government levels has been rife with corruption, graft and theft for decades. Everybody knows it and the only ones who deny it either ARE or HAVE BEEN personally involved it it.
Saw where Shad indicted the Macon Court Clerk. Wonder if he is competent to take on the County there. Over 20 years ago, an article appeared about an audit of the Justice Court. They found over $8k in CASH, over 11k in uncashed checks & 1000s of $ of unprocessed tickets. The records were so bad, the article said an audit couldn't be performed. They began looking at the other County Offices & found so many records missing, the Auditors gave up, Don't remember any article about it since.
Where (Sen) Tommy Robertson these days?....?
If you can point to where, in the law, a clerk is prohibited from waiving a fee, I'll believe this shit-show by the auditor. Otherwise, he broke no law.
Are you really that ignorant or simply blinded by your bias against the auditor? If you don't know how an audit works ask someone.
Post a Comment