It seems a former employee of a district attorney's office was pulling the old MuskogeeCounty shuffle with a computer when vacating the office. An audit of the files possibly reveals why.
Desks were cleared after longtime District Attorney John David Luton was defeated in his re-election bid back in November. Luton had served as the county's top prosecutor for 12 years before losing to Larry Moore.
When Moore took over the office, there were a few things missing, like money and computer programs he needed to conduct business. Moore requested the state auditor's office look into the matter, and its investigation found someone may have been up to no good.
The audit revealed nearly $90,000 in restitution funds earmarked for crime victims was still sitting in a bank account, and thousands of computer files were a victim of the delete button.
Among the files erased? Online sex and gambling Web sites. Yes, while crime fighters were trying to jail the bad guys, they allegedly were checking out the latest sex sites and betting on inside straights, as well.
The audit found a computer program designed to erase files downloaded on one computer and used to delete more than 8,000 files.
Because the computer files that transferred money from the restitution bank account also had been deleted, money to victims of vandalism, burglary and assault could not be sent out.
