Fiscal Review Pending

SCRUTINY TIGHTER AFTER MONEY STOLEN

DURHAM -- Officials at the Durham Center are keeping a closer watch on
cash after an employee stole thousands of dollars from a drug
treatment program, but a search for similar accounting deficiencies in
other county departments is still months away. Antoine D. Schoefield,
36, pleaded guilty last month to three counts of embezzlement by a
public officer or trustee. On Friday, Superior Court Judge Orlando
Hudson ordered Schoefield to repay the county $37,500 -- half the
amount missing from the program's account. As part of a plea
agreement, the former county employee also received an eight-to
10-month suspended sentence, 36 months of supervised probation, one
day in the Durham County jail and 50 hours of community service.

Hired by the county in June 1997, Schoefield was responsible for
collecting payments from students in an addiction education program
for drug abusers and alcoholics for which attendance is usually
ordered by a judge in lieu of jail time. Schoefield was responsible
for collecting the $150 tuition from participants, recording the
payments and making bank deposits.

Schoefield told investigators that he skimmed cash from the deposits
to pay his credit card bills and other debts. County officials became
suspicious in the fall of 2002 after Schoefield went two months
without making any deposits. Officials said that there was little
chance the theft would have been noticed otherwise.

"We were trusting one individual to do it all," said Evester Bailey,
the director of the Durham Center's Court and Crisis Unit, where
Schoefield was an office assistant. "At first, only a portion of the
cash was pilfered. But as the sums got larger, it was easier to notice."

Officials eventually matched the receipts given to the students
between January 2001 and January 2003 to the amount deposited in a
county account and determined that $74,999.50 was missing, according
to court papers.

When officials began asking about the money, Schoefield sent an e-mail
message to his boss resigning from his $23,616-a-year job in January.
He later told investigators that he took between $8,000 and $10,000.

The judge ordered the former employee to pay $37,500 in restitution
after Schoefield said he had been unable to find another job. Lowell
Siler, the assistant county attorney handling the case, said the
county would sue Schoefield to try to recover the rest of the money.

Schoefield could not be reached.

Bailey said that as a result of the theft, payments to the Court and
Crisis Unit of more than $50 are now required in the form of a money
order or certified check, and managers review all bank deposits and
statements.

The Durham Center is the county agency that serves residents with
mental illnesses, developmental disabilities and addictions to drugs
or alcohol. It has about 8,500 clients and a budget of $36.4 million
- -- about $20 million of which comes from charges for service. Ellen
Holliman, the director of the center, did not return calls for comment.

Charlie E. Hobgood, the internal auditor for Durham County, said an
employee shouldn't have the responsibility both to receive and record
money and then make deposits. Hobgood said he plans a review of other
county departments to see if there are similar vulnerabilities to
embezzlement. That review might begin in January, he said -- a year
after the theft was discovered.

"It's on my to-do list," Hobgood said.