The State Board of Accounts is asking former Porter County Auditor Bob Wichlinski to reimburse the county more than $2,000 for a computer and related items that were purchased on a county credit card and not returned at the end of his term.
The report was forwarded to the Office of the Indiana Attorney General and Porter County Prosecutor Brian Gensel.
“All I can say on the record is I received the report from the State Board of Accounts and I’m reviewing it,” said Gensel, who received the report Thursday, the day it was filed.
Wichlinski did not return a call for comment. His four-year term as auditor came to an end Dec. 31, 2014, after he lost a re-election bid to Democrat Vicki Urbanik.
The audit, for his last year in office, notes that the equipment was purchased from the auditor’s nonreverting fund using a county credit card. Several of the items could not be located in the auditor’s office or the county’s information technology department.
The total cost of the items was $2,038.22, and they included a Lenovo U530 Touch computer; a Sandisk memory card; Windows Pro Pack and Microsoft Office 365 Home Premium software; three HP Officejet printers; and a Samsonite Xenon 2 slim briefcase, according to the report.
“Public funds may not be used to pay for personal items or for expenses which do not relate to the functions and purposes of the government unit,” the audit notes, adding that person expenses paid by the government are the obligation of the responsible official or employee.
The audit also states that “funds misappropriated, diverted or unaccounted for through malfeasance, misfeasance or nonfeasance in office” may be the personal obligation of the responsible official or employee.
The audit states that Wichlinski was invited to an exit conference scheduled Aug. 24, which he didn’t attend, and the contents of the report were sent to him by certified mail. He was given the opportunity to respond to the comments by Sept. 7 and had not responded as of Sept. 22.
Amy Lavalley is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
