RFP Staff
♦ Rowan Free Press exclusively received new information regarding the City of Salisbury’s inner financial workings and an ongoing SBI investigation into the City of Salisbury, N.C. This is the first article in a series.
In an email dated May 17, 2015 Mayor Pro Tem Maggie Blackwell disclosed to an auditor from Martin Starnes that an individual committed fraud in the city’s Customer Service Center, and that the individual had been terminated and examined by the SBI. Maggie’s email is below:
Rowan Free Press Associate Editor Todd Paris requested the amount of fraud committed in the Customer Service Center from the City. In an email, City Attorney Rivers Lawther refused to provide the amount or relevant public records claiming they were part of “an ongoing investigation involving the State Bureau of Investigation and will not be released until the investigation is complete.” Lawther’s email below:
In another email dated April 14th, 2015, City Finance Director Wade Furches directed another city finance employee Mark Drye that he fully expected Martin & Starnes to “test internal controls at the CSC (Customer Service Center.)” Furches directed Drye on how to handle the auditor including asking him to do anything else he could think of that “would prove that we have stepped up our game would be great.” Email from Wade Funches below:
Rowan Free Press will continue to investigate this matter to determine just how much of your money was embezzled from the Customer Service Center.
