A former fire chief in western Iowa is accused of misspending tens-of-thousands of dollars of city and county money according to a state audit. Mike McKinnon resigned as the Denison Fire Chief in early 2010. Shortly after leaving office, city officials requested a special investigation by the state of purchases and other transactions made by McKinnon.
State Auditor David Vaudt reviewed records dating from July of 2005 through March of 2010. “What we found was about $96,000 of improper and unsupported disbursements from the Denison Fire Department,” Vaudt said. “About $73,000 of that was from the City of Denison and another $23,000 was from the Crawford County EMS Association.”
The report shows nearly $40,000 was improperly paid to businesses owned by McKinnon. Vaudt said McKinnon also made thousands of dollars worth of personal purchases with the city’s credit card. Some of the purchases included electronics, clothing, a boat motor and parts and a riding mower. Many of the payments to McKinnon’s businesses were supported by invoices that included addresses consisting of post office boxes in Des Moines and West Des Moines.
But, Vaudt said the post office boxes actually did not exist. McKinnon was hired as the Denison Fire Chief in January 1999. The auditor’s report has been filed with the Crawford County Attorney’s office, the Iowa Attorney General’s office and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.
See the audit report here:auditor.iowa.gov/specials/index.html