Financial scandal forces temporary shutdown at Metro Gang Strike Force

Minnesota Public Safety Commissioner Michael Campion told a legislative audit committee that he would temporarily shut down the Metro Gang Strike Force after a report showed poor financial practices.

A legislative audit report found the Metro Gang Strike Force kept hundreds of thousands cash siezed from suspects in a safe with very few financial control. The report also found the MGSF was supposed to give the Attorney General’s office 20% of confiscated cash. It has not done that and the audit estimates the Attorney General’s office is owed 229 thousand dollars. Auditors say the Attorney General’s office still wants that money.

The MGSF also confiscated about 80 vehicles from suspects. 13 of those have not been accounted for yet.

The auditor also pointed out that a flat screen TV confiscated by officers had been sold to a student worker for $30. It was later determined the TV needed to be returned to its original owner and the MGSF had to go retrieve the TV from the student and buy it back.

The Ramsey County Sheriff’s office, which is headed by Sheriff Bob Fletcher apparently conducted its own audit of the “informant fund”. The legislative auditors say the numbers used to reconcile the fund were changed every year.