The state Auditor’s Office says they can’t find any evidence of employee fraud in the Town of Frankford over the past few years, but the report urges the town to move away from cash transactions to help prevent possible future crimes.
From 2013 to 2015, the state auditor’s office found that the Town of Frankford lacked a financial security policy that left taxpayers open to embezzlement.
The report couldn’t find any evidence of that, though town council members say auditors should’ve extended their review back to 2008 when the office completed a similar investigation.
They say the former town administrator, Terri Truitt, and her husband, then council president Jesse Truitt, largely ran the town of about 850 people in southeast Sussex County until they resigned their posts last year.
Another review by the state Justice Department in 2015 found no criminal evidence to prosecute.
One resident also complained he paid his town property taxes twice – once in cash and another time through his mortgage – but the lack of records leaves him unable to collect a refund.
In a response, town council members say they’ve started issuing receipts for all transactions, split control over financial oversight and revised an employee manual, among other changes.