Thievery in Northern Florida

A FDLE investigation into missing funds in the Nassau County(Small county just north of Jacksonville) now believes even more funds are missing from accounts handled by the County Clerk's office.

By JORDAN RODACK, The Times-Union

The amount of money missing from accounts controlled by the Nassau County Clerk of Courts could be even higher than the $800,000 previously publicly disclosed, according to an investigator for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Dominick Pape, special agent in charge of the FDLE Jacksonville Regional Operations Center, said the investigation into the missing Nassau County funds could be completed within the next few weeks.

The FDLE was called in to investigate in early March after an audit uncovered thousands of dollars missing from several accounts.

Newly elected Clerk of Courts John Crawford ordered the audit shortly after taking office in January. Crawford defeated former clerk Chip Oxley in August's Republican primary.

Crawford said he ordered the audit as a routine precaution because as a constitutional officer, he can be held accountable for any financial discrepancies. The clerk acts as the chief financial officer for the county and is responsible for making sure that every financial transaction involving public money is legal and proper, he said.

That isn't it either. A person being investigated in this case died a month back.

Earlier this month, FDLE investigators interviewed a former Nassau County finance supervisor, Julia J. Mixon, who worked in the office for several years before leaving in February as a result of a staff reorganization ordered by Crawford. FDLE identified Mixon as a "person of interest" in its investigation.

On May 3, her body was found in a Jacksonville motel room; her death was ruled a suicide. Her family told the Times-Union that she had been seriously depressed since her 18-year-old son was murdered in 1997, and they did not believe the investigation caused her to kill herself.
Typical malfesiance when it comes to taxpayer money. What's new, right?