County
GUARDIANS Discover $300,000 Missing Funds
April 28, 2009 
GUARDIAN TEAM REPORT
By Paul Alldredge, Caldwell GUARDIAN and David R. Frazier, Boise GUARDIAN
While the legislature and governor are locked in a funding battle over transportation, the GUARDIANS have learned of $300,000 that seems to have slipped through the cyber cracks of the state computer– thanks to a seven year long Canyon County alleged embezzlement only recently discovered.
Canyon County’s Assessor, Gene Kuehn, apparently noticed problems with the numbers in the Motor Vehicle Division accounts of his office a while back. The assistant supervisor of the division was placed on administrative leave and later terminated–standard procedure in Canyon County when workers get caught crossways of the law.
Caldwell Police have been notified and are investigating. Since the matter deeply involves a state agency and state funds, look for the Canyon Prosecutor and Caldwell coppers to seek some expertise from the Idaho Attorney General’s office.
Motor Vehicle licenses are sold by the county assessor in Idaho on a contract basis with the State Department of Transportation. We hear the state computer has a “big hole” in its security program and the alleged crime involved “multiple year registrations.” DMV workers in other counties were aware of the missing funds, having been tipped by their colleagues at the state level. It was an open secret among insiders who told us, “We were waiting for the shoe to drop.”
Once the legacy media gets on this GUARDIAN team report, we expect to hear some details of how the scam went down as officials spill the beans over the the alleged embezzlement.
NOON UPDATE: We have word now that two employees were terminated and the amount of the missing funds may be more than originally known.
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Comments & Discussion
Comments are closed for this post.
Apr 28, 2009, 3:00 pm
Wow! When you two Guardians team up, nobody’s safe! 🙂
Way to go!
Apr 28, 2009, 4:28 pm
I guess it’s high time to cowboy up in old Canyon County.
Apr 28, 2009, 9:59 pm
Canyon County government, from what I’ve read and seen a bit, is a complete mess.
Apr 29, 2009, 4:38 am
Gee I wonder when the news media is going to break the story.
Apr 29, 2009, 9:24 am
Thank goodness it isn’t the Federal Government’s illegal actions or the National Media would help them bury the bodies and put a positive spin on it!
Apr 29, 2009, 9:27 am
It’s a sad day for our citizens when the “news media” is having to quote the Guardian in their reports. All we get now is merely reporting on the news. Hardly any news gathering or “investigative” journalism can be found anymore in either the national or local media. That’s not to take anything away from either Paul or Dave. Unfortunately, I work in the “news media” and can attest that for most, it’s hardly anything more than a job. They hardly care about getting things right, let alone the idea of actually breaking a story. I guess that’s one explanation of how someone with so little experience, and a many questionable acquaintances was elected President last year.
Apr 29, 2009, 12:39 pm
From my days involved with government, there is always a lot of inside information about brewing scandals. Old media people often ignored this kind of information. They often made you feel uncomfortable going to them. Sources were hesitant to go to them, for a variety of reasons, including apathy, distrust and delay. New media offers a more receptive ear. Thus, I am not really surprised when so many good stories first appear through blogs like this one.
Apr 29, 2009, 12:56 pm
Hybrid did we have a choice?
8 years of lie’s and the largest debt this country has ever seen created and you wanted 4 more years add to that?
Apr 29, 2009, 2:12 pm
Tell Otter his gas tax $ was found…unfortunately it was embezzled in Canyon County!
Apr 29, 2009, 2:42 pm
Excellent works guys.
Apr 29, 2009, 2:45 pm
Robert,
Interesting you would mention lies and spending as a reason to vote for our current president. It’s only been 100 days and we’ve seen the largest government spending bill ever passed, and the largest budget proposal in history. As for lies, I guess the administration and Chris Dodd can decide who is lying as far as the AIG bonuses. Obama promised to end earmarks and pork spending, I guess that totals 9,000 or so lies that were attached to the “stimulus” bill. For the record, John McCain (the other choice) has never requested $1 in earmarks. You bought what the “news media” fed you, like so many others. Conngratulations to the “news media” on a well-run campaign.
Apr 29, 2009, 3:59 pm
So, once again The Daily is playing catch-up.
Apr 29, 2009, 4:03 pm
Oops. As I read ” I guess that’s one explanation of how someone with so little experience, and a many questionable acquaintances was elected President last year,” in Hybrid’s comment, until I got to the words “last year,” I thought he was talking about George W.
Guess that’s why he uses the name “Hybrid.”
Apr 29, 2009, 4:32 pm
8 years of lies? Try over 65 years of lies when you go to http://www.CAFR1.com and discover TRILLIONS of hidden cash while we are always told there has never been enough. This is not a party issue. Both parties answer to the same money masters coming from huge reserves. The government control it all because they own it all due to the money involved. There has been a total media blackout concerning Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports. What about the Guardian folks carrying an article on this subject? Here in lies the source of all lies. Any takers? Very interesting decrease in Idaho’s Transportation expenditures in the last 5 years while revenue surpluses have increased by over $200 million.
Anyone interested in investigating this relationship? It is all found in the CAFR. And Ada and Canyon Counties both have CAFRs also. Cannot find $300,000–look in the CAFRs. Money never just goes poof–it always goes somewhere, we just have not been told of where the funds go.
Apr 29, 2009, 4:41 pm
Another question:
Sen. John McGee is from Canyon County and is also on the Transportation committee. I’ve heard he is pretty close to Gov. Otter. Maybe he would be able to shed some light on this subject as he seems to be in the middle of all these “issues.”
Apr 30, 2009, 4:24 pm
Hybrid- Do you think the advent of technology has made the mainstream media become lazy? It seems press releases and AP/Reuters stories make up alot of the source information.