Boone County Treasurer takes responsibility for loss of money to fraud, hopes thief will be caught

Treasurer of the Boone County government, Tom Darrough, said that he takes full responsibility after the county government gave money to a fraudulent account.

“We’ve changed our policies, and more importantly, enhanced or policies. We had an ACH policy and I want to make it clear that this wasn’t an employee in this department, but rather this ends with me and this fraud got past us by an oversight on our part,” said Darrough.

ABC 17 previously reported that in December, the Boone County government sent $46,232 to what was believed to be an account belonging to a construction company, but later realized it was fraudulent.

The county government “received correspondence” from what they believed was the local construction company Emery Sapp & Sons to “update their banking information” on October 31, 2017.

On Dec. 7, the county government sent the payment to the construction company. Eight days later the county “became aware that the payment was sent to a fraudulent account.”

The funds lost were covered by the county’s emergency fund, but will not be covered by an insurance policy. The county government hopes to get the funds back when the thief is caught.