Iron County Official Accused Of Stealing Public Money

Another county official in Wisconsin is accused of stealing public money less than a year after a former Eau Claire county treasurer was sentenced to prison for embezzlement.

Mary Tijan, the financial manager for Iron County Human Services, has been charged with six felonies and one misdemeanor after allegedly taking more than $185,000 between 2013 and 2016.

Tijan used fake vendors to invoice the county for work that that was never done, according to a criminal complaint filed Aug. 9 in Iron County Court. The complaint also accuses Tijan of misusing a county credit card for personal purchases and alleges she submitted falsified invoices then using the money to pay for her son’s college tuition.

Iron County officials declined to comment on the case, citing an ongoing investigation. Tijan and her attorney did not return requests for comment.

Last year, former Eau Claire County Treasurer Larry Lokken was caught embezzling more than $600,000 from the county. Lokken was sentenced in January to 9.5 years in prison.

Jon Hochkammer, outreach manager for the Wisconsin Counties Association, said they’ve been providing counties with resources to identify and prevent fraud. The association partnered with the Milwaukee-based accounting firm Wipfli to offer counties fraud training last November.

“There’s fraudulent activity that occurs,” Hochkammer said. “Some of it is never uncovered. But, in some cases, where there is fraudulent activity, it’s not reported. They handle it internally, and it doesn’t become public knowledge.”

Hochkammer said they don’t track cases of fraud within counties, but he urged counties to develop policies and procedures to prevent misuse of taxpayer money.

A 2014 study by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners found government, banking and manufacturing industries report the greatest number of fraud cases. The study also found that organizations lose around five percent of their revenues to fraud each year.

Marc Courey, director of risk advisory and forensic services department at Wipfli’s office in St. Paul, Minnesota, said he has worked with a handful of counties in Wisconsin to improve their internal operations to prevent fraud or investigate whether fraud has occurred. He declined to name the counties, citing confidentiality agreements.

“Frequently, you see (it) … where you have one employee who is responsible for multiple aspects of a function and you trust that they are doing what’s right,” Courey said.

Courey said counties should always have more than one set of eyes on financial transactions and minimize the ability of individuals to work alone. But, he noted that can be difficult because many counties don’t have the resources to hire more than one person to perform the same job. In such cases, Courey said cross-training is essential.

The easiest way to discover fraud is to follow the paper trail, noting common signs of fraud include invoices that bill for the same amount and the sequence in which they’re submitted, Courey said.

In Eau Claire County, officials have been working to improve financial controls, said county administrator Kathryn Schauf.

“Every time that we have a vacancy in a position or a significant change in a departmental area, we take the opportunity to review the entire system,” Schauf said.

Eau Claire County has partnered with an outside contractor to post county finances online. They have also partnered with the city of Eau Claire to set up an anonymous tip line.

In Columbia County, the accounting office ensures all elected officials, county supervisors and staffers are trained in fraud prevention and identification. New employees in the county go through a two-hour training that covers county procedures and reviews cases where fraud occurred.

“We don’t want someone to come into a department and say that an employee could have committed fraud,” said Lois Schepp, controller and county auditor for Columbia County. “We want to put controls in place so that no one can say that.”