A report from the state auditor’s office shows a former business manager of a southeast Iowa school district used a district credit card for thousands of dollars of personal purchases. Cindy Steege worked at the Mid Prairie School District based in Wellman.
Deputy State Auditor Tami Kusian says the investigation found Steege placed over $7,200 on the card for items unrelated to school district business. “A large portion of that was personal cell phone bills, and then some retail vendors like Target and Kohls, and some other personal items,” Kusian said.
Steege resigned last June. She’d been the business manager for the Mid Prairie schools since 2009. The investigation by the auditor’s office covered a period between 2012 and 2014.
“It’s another case where there weren’t proper segregation of duties,” Kusian said. “She was the one actually responsible for recording the procurement card transactions and nobody else was reviewing those or reconciling those.” The audit report also found improper tax withholding on Steege’s payroll records. Online court records show Steege’s been charged with second-degree theft.