DCI Is Reported to Be Probing Teton County

By GIL BRADY, Staff Ink-Stained Wretch
Originally Published July 18

JACKSON, Wyo. (CT) -- Wyoming’s Division of Criminal Investigation declined to confirm or deny last month that it was investigating Teton County. But anonymous sources, public records, and a letter from Wyoming's Attorney General suggest that the use of county resources and public funds here are under scrutiny by state criminal investigators.

Responding to a whistleblower’s written plea for gubernatorial consideration last month, in a letter given to The CT on the condition of anonymity, Wyoming Attorney General Patrick Crank wrote on June 29: "Please be advised that the allegations you raise are currently being investigated, at the Governor's direction, by the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation."

The investigation has not resulted in any charges against any county personnel or officials. And, when asked to comment, three current Teton County commissioners said they did not recall approving payment for a voucher in question.

Vouchers are the official forms for monetary claims against Wyoming county governments that state law requires to be fully itemized, signed and sworn to by vendors. County personnel routinely submit them for approval by county commissioners prior to any reimbursements being made for expenses.

Copies of two vouchers obtained by The CT had “DCI” written on them. One had “DCI originals,” indicating state authorities had requested, inspected or been offered their originals.

When shown a voucher earlier this month suggesting that taxpayers had paid the $76 tab for a county employee’s visits to two gentlemen’s clubs during a 2003 training seminar in Reno, Nev., Teton County commissioners Andy Schwartz, Jim Darwiche, and Larry Jorgenson, who were in office at the time, said they did not recall approving the reimbursement.

“I would not approve any questionable voucher,” Jorgenson said.

Schwartz added that the voucher could not be construed as an additional employee benefit.

Additional Teton County records, receipts and purchase journals dating to 1999 show thousands of dollars in non-itemized and irregular vouchers as being paid with public funds.

In a copy of a whistleblower's letter addressed to Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal, given to The CT by its author on the condition of anonymity, a county employee wrote on June 18, 2006: “This situation requires your intervention. What I believe I’ve found here is a systematic attack on the Constitution of the State of Wyoming.”

Also, citing a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling restricting the free speech of public employees, the letter writer reported to the governor that a county commissioner had relayed, through another commissioner, that: “I’m no longer protected by whistle-blower laws.”

Asked about the state’s investigation during an interview earlier this month in his Jackson office, Teton County Prosecuting Attorney Steve Weichman said: “I can not confirm or deny an investigation.”

Weichman also declined comment on issues regarding whistleblowers.

Last month, when asked about complaints regarding irregular bookkeeping here, Pam Robinson, administrator of Wyoming's Department of Audit Public Funds Division, indicated that her office was deferring to an outside investigation currently underway.

“I’ve heard about it and I’m pursuing it,” Robinson said. “But I’m waiting to hear [more] first.”

Wyoming law empowers the Director of State Department of Audit to examine “any books and records of any state institution, state agency, incorporated city or town or any district…whenever the director feels the audit or procedures are necessary.”

Also, state law allows the Wyoming Department of Audit to ask local prosecutors to assist in any investigation, give legal advice and prosecute criminal cases.

Asked whether his office would cooperate with a possible request for assistance from state auditors, Weichman said: “I trust the Wyoming Department of Audit about as far as I can throw them. That apprehension is based on prior experience.”

Two years ago, during a joint Jackson Police Department-W.D.A investigation into a local bank, tensions erupted when Weichman accused state banking auditors of withholding evidence from Jackson police in a letter published in The Jackson Hole News & Guide.

"It would take a great deal of honesty and good faith on their part,” Weichman added, regarding the present possibility of the state asking for his help in inspecting the county’s books, “before I could consider changing my assessment of that agency."

Weichman clarified that his criticisms were not directed at Robinson but at other state officials.

Deputy clerks here report that investigators can only review vouchers dating to 1999, because records from earlier years were likely purged according to custom.

(Stay with The Cowboy Times for updates on this story)

(Photo Credits: Teton Range, Gil Brady; Prosecuting Attorney Steve Weichman, stock on-line photo)