Manatee Clerk's Office Expected to Complete Investigation into Embezzelment Allegations at County Jail

The Clerk of Court's Internal Audit data gathering for an audit of the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office is set to be completed next week.

The internal auditors, who are examining the transactions of two separate inmate commissary funds, expect that their data collection field work will be completed by the end of next week. The internal auditors will then evaluate and analyze the data. They will release their findings in a written report probably by the end of May.

“My staff is working as expeditiously as is prudent to ensure their audit is thorough and complete. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, I anticipate that the final report will be issued by the end of May,” said R.B. “Chips” Shore, Manatee County's Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller.

Shore credits the Manatee County Sheriff's office for the success of the audit to date.

“Sheriff Steube and his staff have been fully cooperative with our audit and have taken a proactive and assertive response to all of our inquiries and requests for information and documentation,” Shore said.

Shore began his investigation after Charles Smith, a member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and a Palmetto City Commissioner, detailed allegations Deputy David Livingston made to Internal Affairs detectives. Livingston, who worked at the jail, resigned soon after revealing his concerns.

Since then the sheriff's office released the results of an internal investigation showing a practice of employees at the jail's farm using county property for personal reasons.

After the eight-month investigation, former Maj. James Higginbotham and former Sgt. Frank Parks were cited in a 130-page report for "conduct unbecoming a deputy," but the state attorney's office decided against bringing charges on any of the 18 allegation or prosecuting the officers.

The findings showed jail employees cultivated a culture where it was "common practice" to take hay, food and equipment for themselves, their relatives and their friends

Sheriff Brad Steube told the Bradenton Herald he was "embarrassed" by the findings of the investigation.

"We all make mistakes. And that's why we have in place a professional standards unit and folks that actually do these investigations," Steube said. "Is this pretty bad? Well, heck yeah."

Auditors are looking at the commissary fund to determine whether any sheriff's department employees embezzled funds from the inmates' commissary accounts.