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| Justice Department Investigating Warden's Alleged Phone Misuse |
| By Associated Press/Great Falls Tribune |
| Published: 11/26/2002 |
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The warden of the state women's prison is under investigation by the Justice Department for allegedly using her state-issued cell phone to make thousands of dollars in personal calls over the past year. Apparent phone misuse by Warden Jo Acton and other Corrections Department employees was uncovered by the legislative auditor in a report that will be reviewed by the Legislative Audit Committee on Tuesday. Acton was briefly interim director of the Juvenile Detention Center in Great Falls during an investigation of its former director in 1995. Although the report did not mention any employee names, Acton acknowledged Monday that she was under investigation by justice officials in connection with her cell phone use. She declined to discuss the issue at length. 'This is under investigation and they (corrections officials) said not to comment until the investigation is complete. It's a personnel matter,' she said in a telephone interview. The audit said it found an instance where one employee had accumulated $4,100 in roaming charges for personal calls on her state phone over 12 months. It said the matter was referred to the Justice Department as required by law when a possible crime has been discovered. A theft involving more than $1,000 is a felony. Joe Williams, administrator of the agency's Centralized Services Division, would not confirm Acton as the person cited in the audit. But he said the person had repaid $740 of the cost for the questioned phone calls before the investigation began. The person also received 'counseling' about the proper use of state phones, he said. No further payments or disciplinary action will occur until after the probe is finished. He said the department turned over to the Justice Department the employee's cell phone records for the past two years. Acton has been warden at the Billings prison for seven years. Before that, she ran the Yellowstone Juvenile Center. The audit cited another example in which an unnamed employee placed $560 in personal calls on a state cell phone while on vacation. Williams said the employee repaid that money to the state last summer. He said the person had carried a personal and state phone while vacationing and inadvertently made the calls on the government phone in connection with a serious family illness back home. The audit noted that state policy allows employees some personal use of state cell phones while traveling on state business. They can call family members, doctors, day-care centers or baby sitters to briefly inform them of family business. But the calls questioned in the report were made while the employees were traveling on personal business and incurred roaming charges that violated state policy, the audit said. Williams, who said the department agrees with the audit findings, believes the department could have found the personal phone calls earlier had the cell phone service provider given bills more quickly. Officials requested the bills for a year before they finally were supplied in May. As part of a cost-cutting move and an attempt to better control cell phone use, the department eliminated 80 of its 200 cell phones when it switched to another phone service in September, he said. |
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