Officials: Former administrator returns missing county files

Discussion

January 7, 2009

Anonymous The Joplin Globe Wed Jan 07, 2009, 10:45 PM CST

By Derek Spellman

dspellman@joplinglobe.com

CARTHAGE, Mo. — With two county officials and her attorney present, former Jasper County Public Administrator Rita Hunter on Wednesday night delivered boxes of what are believed to be county files missing since last week.

Hunter gave no explanation for why the files were removed from the public administrator’s office sometime before her successor, Angie Casavecchia, assumed office on Friday. County officials, at least for now, are not seeking one.

The files contain information, according to officials, that is vital to the care of people who cannot care for themselves and have been named wards of the county.

Jasper County Prosecutor Dean Dankelson said he and Presiding County Commissioner John Bartosh were present about 6 p.m. when Hunter delivered about 30 boxes of files to the county courthouse in Carthage.

Asked why he did not press Hunter for an explanation as to why she took the files, Dankelson said: “To me it’s not relevant why she took them. To me it’s relevant they were brought back.”

But Dankelson then said: “This case is just started. It did not end tonight.”

Dankelson said he and Casavecchia would be reviewing the contents of the files to verify that all the necessary information is intact. He also said his office would help advance Casavecchia’s request for an audit of the public administrator’s office during Hunter’s tenure.

Efforts to reach Bartosh for comment Wednesday night were unsuccessful.

Phone messages left for Hunter at her home on Wednesday were not returned. Efforts to reach her for comment on Monday and Tuesday also were unsuccessful.

Hunter was ousted by Casavecchia in the Republican primary in August. The latter went on to run unopposed in the November general election.

After taking office last week, Casavecchia discovered that records on all of the county wards had been deleted from computers at the Carthage office. Paper files with wards’ information also had been removed from the office.

Casavecchia has said the office has an estimated 290 clients.

Casavecchia and Gretchen Long, the new attorney for the public administrator, this week have obtained some client information from the office of attorney John Podleski, who is an assistant county prosecutor under Dankelson and who served as the public administrator’s attorney under Hunter. Casavecchia early this week said Hunter came to her home on New Year’s Day and told her that the paper files were at Podleski’s office.

Casavecchia said information for about 160 wards had been transferred from Podleski to her as of Wednesday. Casavecchia said she hopes that transfer of documents will be complete by the weekend.

But Podleski had only information such as benefit checks, wards’ personal identification, and receipts on burial policies or pre-need burial plans.

The information that Casavecchia said is vital to caring for wards — personal data, medical records, housing information and care plans — was contained in the files that Hunter apparently had removed.

Dankelson said Hunter’s attorney, Judy Moore, contacted him Wednesday to advise him that Hunter apparently had those files. Dankelson said Moore told him that Hunter told her that she took the files because she thought she would need them to defend herself in a number of lawsuits brought by current and former wards.

Efforts to reach Moore for comment Wednesday night were unsuccessful.

Dankelson said he told Moore that the files needed to be restored to the county on Wednesday.

Casavecchia, for her part, said it was not relevant to her why Hunter reportedly took the files.

“I’m just glad I got (them) back,” she said, noting that the information in the missing files would allow her to pay wards’ bills, pay their landlords and have contact information.

Lawsuits

Allegations of overcharging the estates of county wards and other financial issues are raised in lawsuits that have been filed against Rita Hunter. Similar questions are being raised on Angie Casavecchia’s behalf in filings in probate court that argue that Hunter should have to provide a financial accounting of how wards’ estates were handled before the court releases her from responsibility in the estates.

Text Only

Carthage, Jasper County

Carthage attorney, reformer of revenue department, dies
James R. Spradling, a Carthage attorney who was noted for his reform of the Missouri Department of Revenue in the 1970s, died at 5:50 a.m. Monday at McCune-Brooks Regional Hospital.

August 9, 2010 1 Photo
Bondswoman charged with false imprisonment
A bail bondswoman from Carthage is facing a charge of false imprisonment for allegedly attempting to put a man in jail without a judge’s order, then taking him home and handcuffing him to the banister of a staircase until a friend of the man paid her his bond money.

January 4, 2012
Man’s last statement to be given to defendant
A judge ruled Monday that the Jasper County prosecutor must provide attorneys for Darren J. Winans with a videotaped statement co-defendant Matthew D. Laurin made about the Sheldon murders shortly before killing himself.

August 23, 2010
Carthage proposes 1.6-cent rise in city property tax
A drop in the assessed value of Carthage real estate will translate to an increase of about 1.6 cents in the city’s proposed property tax rate.

August 9, 2010
Open house to celebrate projects at courthouse
Projects completed last year at the Jasper County Courthouse will be celebrated in ceremonies Thursday in the courthouse lobby.
County officials will join representatives of local chambers of commerce and others for a ribbon-cutting and open house to mark the opening of a Route 66 display in the lobby and a new “peace star” atop the building.

May 9, 2010
State budget cuts reduce county funds
County officials are bracing for more state budget cuts to translate into a loss of county revenues.
In an effort to balance Missouri’s budget, the state earlier this year cut the amount it reimburses county assessors for work to determine property values. The budget approved by lawmakers for fiscal 2011 calls for cutting the amount the state reimburses counties to house prisoners bound for state lockup.

May 9, 2010 1 Photo
Jo Ellis: County home to rare yellowwood tree
In late spring, drifts as white as snow fill the gutters and curbs on the east side of the Jasper County Courthouse. It isn’t snow, of course; it’s the fallen petals of the yellowwood tree that grows squarely in front of the door to the Jasper County Extension office.

May 9, 2010
Jasper County Commission gets building project update
Plans to close out one building project and start another were reviewed by the Jasper County Commission last week.
Darieus Adams, Western District associate commissioner, met Thursday with officials of the firm who designed a $292,400 project to upgrade the lighting and make other changes to make four county-owned buildings more energy efficient.

May 8, 2010
Two men running for associate judge in 39th Circuit take case to court
Two men running for associate judge in Missouri’s 39th Circuit began battling it out in a Jasper County courtroom this week.
Jasper County Circuit Judge Gayle Crane heard arguments Wednesday concerning the disclosure of documents sought by Robert “Bobby” George, Aurora, the current Lawrence County prosecutor.

May 7, 2010
Unveiling ceremony celebrates CHS tiger
Kandy Frazier, Carthage High School principal, summed it up once the new addition to the CHS campus was unveiled Thursday.
The bronze tiger sculpture created by Carthage artist and sculptor Bob Tommey, she said, is the kind of work that would be found at a big university.

May 6, 2010 1 Photo
More Carthage, Jasper County Headlines

Water company cites reconnections

Carthage, Jasper County

Search Results

Discussion

Officials: Former administrator returns missing county files

Joplin City Manager Mark Rohr wants the city to distribute weather radios to all Joplin homes that don’t have one. That’s 11,000 radios. Do you think that’s a good use of $300,440?

Joplin City Manager Mark Rohr wants the city to distribute weather radios to all Joplin homes that don’t have one. That’s 11,000 radios. Do you think that’s a good use of $300,440?

Site Map

Contact Us