State VA Employee Racked up Almost $2,000 in Credit Card Charges

Auditors found a staffer at the Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs racked up almost $2,000 in charges on a credit card she allegedly obtained for the agency without permission.

Robyn K. Clark was the Administrative Services manager for the agency. According to a report by the Bureau of Legislative Augit, Clark allegedly charged alcohol, meals out, gasoline and salon visits.
Clark could not be reached for comment.

Kendall Thornton, spokeswoman for the state Department of Veterans Affairs, said Clark quit before the agency could fire her. Thornton said Clark promised to pay back the agency but failed to do so.

Auditors have turned the case over to the Pulaski County Prosecutor's Office for review.

The audit, however, also revealed other problems the agency has had with record keeping.

Seven items valued at over $93,000 could not be located by the Agency; three items totaling just over $74,000 had inventory tags that did not match records, and two items totaling almost $30,000 had been disposed of buy had not been removed from the Agency's inventory list.

Audits said the Agency has corrected all but one of those errors.

Thornton said the Agency has taken the necessary steps to rectify these problems. She said a problem with the Agency's computer logging system was the problem.

In the case of the Clark, Thornton said better communication among upper level management "has been put into place" to keep this from happening again.