9 a.m. Thursday (AP) – A state audit criticized the operation of the Callaway County Circuit courts and found money missing because of lax oversight and accounting.
The audit released Wednesday documented $355 missing but said thousands more could be missing.
A former Callaway County circuit clerk supervisor was fired in October 2012. The clerk’s name has not been released.
The Columbia Daily Tribune reports an earlier review by the Office State Court Administrator found 60 questionable transactions in 2012 totaling $8,845, all of which could be missing.
That prompted a county judge to ask State Auditor Thomas Schweich to conduct an audit for all of 2011 and 2012. That audit found another $2,802 that could be missing, totaling $11,647.
Circuit Clerk Judy Groner says changes have been made to address the problems.

3 p.m. Wednesday (AP) – The state auditor says authorities are investigating missing funds at the office of a central Missouri judicial circuit clerk.

Auditor Tom Schweich released a report Wednesday on his audit of the Callaway County clerk of the two-county 13th Judicial Circuit.

Schweich cites more than $11,000 in what he termed “problematic” transactions and $355 in missing funds.

Schweich’s office was contacted after a routine accounting review by the Office of the State Courts Administrator. His report says the supervisor in charge of the affected accounts was fired last fall, information has been forwarded to the sheriff’s department and a special prosecutor has been appointed.

The current circuit clerk, Judy Groner, says no one suspected of wrongdoing currently is employed and that she has worked to implement the audit’s recommendations.