Ferguson Court Audit Turns Up Illegal Fees, Missing Money in Moldy Files

The Ferguson city court charged people $26,000 in illegal fees and is missing nearly $1,500 in cash, but it's nearly impossible to figure out everything that's gone wrong, because officials there do such a terrible job keeping records, a state audit released this morning reveals.

In fact, state investigators had to hire a mold remediation service to help clean piles of deteriorating documents.

State Auditor Nicole Galloway revealed the disturbing results of the long-awaited review into the Ferguson Municipal Court on Wednesday. Not only were the records a mess, she says, but court and city workers were "combative" with state investigators during the probe.

"Considering the lack of cooperation my staff experienced in their official roles as representatives of my office, I can only imagine how average citizens are treated when they are trying to get information about their cases or resolution on serious issues," Galloway says.

Read more: http://www.riverfronttimes.com/newsblog/2017/04/26/ferguson-court-audit-turns-up-illegal-fees-missing-money-in-moldy-files