Former Missouri ambulance director misappropriated over $90,000, state auditor says
The former director of the Carroll County Ambulance District misappropriated more than $90,000, according to an audit by the Missouri auditor’s office.
The audit released Wednesday said Mario DeFelice was overpaid, reimbursed for questionable mileage and made improper personal purchases using the ambulance district’s credit card.
The funds were misappropriated from the district during a nine-month period, according to a news release from State Auditor Nicole Galloway. The audit also faulted the district’s board of directors for a lack of oversight.
In response, the ambulance board said it would work with law enforcement authorities with any criminal investigation of misappropriated payments.
Auditors made repeated requests by phone and email to interview DeFelice, who ultimately declined and said, “Report whatever you want to and I will deal with it at a later time,” according to the audit.
The Star reported about the ambulance district in December 2020 and a controversy about its refusal to transfer some patients to hospitals that offer a higher level of care than what Carroll County Memorial can provide.
DeFelice began working for the ambulance district in June 2020, the audit said. As an exempt employee, his annual salary was set at $75,000. He was not eligible to receive overtime pay.
As the director, DeFelice was responsible for hiring and terminating ambulance workers and coordinating their work schedules.
DeFelice was terminated on March 3, 2021.
Typically, the business office manager is responsible for entering time and expenses into the payroll system that are approved by the director. DeFelice had access to the payroll system and sometimes entered time and expenses, according to the audit.
Carroll County is about 85 miles northeast of Kansas City.
The audit was in response to a call to the state auditor’s office whistleblower hotline received in March 2021 that questioned the district’s financial practices.
The audit staff made repeated requests by phone and email in May, June and July to interview DeFelice about payments made from district funds during his tenure.
During their review of the district’s finances, auditors concluded that DeFelice received payroll overpayments for $54,530. He claimed $1,945 in mileage reimbursements. The auditors said those payments were questionable.
Between July 16, 2020, and March 10, 2021, DeFelice improperly claimed 642 hours of overtime that resulted in being improperly paid $35,150 in overtime, according to the audit.
He also improperly authorized 19 payroll overpayments totaling $29,560 to 15 district employees between November 2020 and January 2021, the audit found.
Auditors also found the ambulance district’s board of directors did not approve the overtime pay and failed to have adequate financial controls that would have prevented funds from being misappropriated.
“The lack of segregation of duties and adequate controls, and the absence of proper oversight ... resulted in overpayments, questionable mileage reimbursements, improper employee benefit reimbursements, improper purchases made by the Director,” auditors said in their report.
The ambulance board also failed to follow the Missouri Sunshine Law for its handling of closed session minutes, results of votes, and signed meeting minutes, according to the audit.
The Missouri attorney general sued the district in April 2021 for violations of the Sunshine Law.
The audit resulted in a rating of “poor,” the lowest possible.
This story was originally published November 23, 2022 at 2:42 PM.
