The Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation says the former chief deputy of Audubon County is facing charges after some $2,000 in cash from a criminal investigation turned up missing. DCI spokesman James Saunders. Saunders says Jacob Matthews was arrest and charged with theft by misappropriation, third-degree burglary and non-felonious misconduct in office. Saunders says Matthews allegedly took the cash and then tried to replace the money after the theft was discovered.
Saunders says Matthews apparently tried to replace the missing money from tobacco compliance funds given to the department, which is part of the charge of non-felonious misconduct in office. The former Dallas County Sheriff was just convicted this past week of stealing about 120-thousand dollars from a cache of nearly a million dollars that was seized during a traffic stop. Saunders says these kind of cases are rare.
"Anytime you have a public official who takes advantage of their position, you know that has an impact on the community for which they serve, Saunders says. "These are unfortunate, isolated instances." Saunders says in both instances, fellow officers noticed something awry and "did the right thing" by alerting their county attorneys. "While it’s unfortunate, I think the end result is the fact that I think people can still trust their public official," Saunders says. Matthews appeared before a magistrate and was placed on pre-trial release.