OKLAHOMA CITY — “The Town of Boynton has been embroiled in fraud, waste, abuse, and financial mismanagement for several years,” former State Auditor and Inspector Gary Jones wrote in January 2019.
“There has been evidence of embezzlement and misappropriation of funds as far back as 2009,” Jones reported in the executive summary of an investigative audit his office performed on the Muskogee County community, covering a 25-month period: June 1, 2014, through July 31, 2016.
“The culture of noncompliance in the Town begins with a lack of properly elected officials and culminates in the lack of records, lack of oversight, misuse of public assets, and finally a material misappropriation of funds.”
The SA&I audit of the official books and records of Boynton – then a town of approximately 250 residents but now down to about 170, according to the latest census – was requested by former District Attorney (now special district judge) Orvil Loge.
The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation reviewed the state audit and confirmed its conclusions.
That resulted in multiple criminal charges filed by Loge on May 31, 2019. Those included:
• A felony charge of embezzlement against then-Mayor Clara Kay Lang, 72.
• Felony charges of embezzlement and forgery against Clara Lang’s stepdaughter, former Boynton Town Clerk Candace Renita Lang, 43.
• A felony embezzlement count against former town water system operator Willie Hopkins, 63.
A jury trial in Muskogee County District Court for all three defendants is scheduled for Feb. 13, 2023, with District Judge Bret Smith presiding.
The trial will occur four years after the SA&I audit report was filed, and nearly six years after an independent audit performed on June 3, 2016, reported that Willie Hopkins and Candace Lang “colluded to misappropriate assets of the Town.”
Loge’s request was the second SA&I investigation, and the third overall investigation in four years, into allegations of misappropriation involving at least four former town employees.
Between 2014 and 2017, the Town of Boynton “transitioned through the election or appointment of nine different trustees, three town clerks and two mayors,” Jones related.
The SA&I released a special audit of the town in February 2014 which “detailed irregularities in utility billing, unexplained compensation for a former Town employee, as well as a general lack of oversight by the Town Board during the period of Oct. 1, 2009, through June 30, 2013,” Jones reported.
Boynton’s Town Clerk and Town Treasurer are elected officials who serve four-year terms. The clerk is to be chosen at the election in which trustees from odd-numbered wards are elected, and the treasurer is to be chosen at the election in which trustees from even-numbered wards are elected.
Nevertheless, the treasurer’s position “was not filled during our audit period,” Jones related.
Kay Lang was appointed town clerk by the Board of Trustees on April 14, 2014; “she was not elected as required by law.” Candace Lang was appointed by the Board of Trustees, effective August 1, 2014; “she also was not elected as required by law.”
Further, the Town of Boynton held a municipal election on July 22, 2014, to elect five new board members. “This meeting was held in violation” of a state statute which decrees in part, “… a biennial town meeting of the voters shall be held on the first Tuesday in April in each odd-numbered year for the purpose of electing municipal officers and considering questions raised by initiative or referendum…”
The public notice of the election, as required by state law, “was also not complied with,” Jones noted.
‘Lack of controls, lack of oversight, disregard for law’
“Evidence suggests that a comprehensive lack of internal controls, a lack of oversight” by the town’s Board of Trustees, “and disregard for the law in the management of the Town’s finances” contributed to “misappropriation of funds,” Jones wrote.
Irregularities cited in the state audit included:
• Blank checks were signed with no accompanying documentation.
• Audits were not performed annually as required by state law.
• Purchase orders were not utilized for all expenditures.
• Payments were made with only one approved signature.
• Bank statements were not reconciled, and financial reports were not presented to or reviewed by the Board of Trustees.
• Records supporting the receipt and expenditure of funds did not exist, were destroyed, or had been removed from Town Hall.
• Payroll records were missing from Town Hall.
• Official meeting agendas and minutes were not maintained and were incomplete as to actions taken by the trustees.
• Payroll taxes were not withheld from employee compensation and applicable tax returns were not submitted to each governmental taxing agency as required. Payroll, Social Security and unemployment insurance taxes were not withheld from employee payroll checks. Consequently, the proper tax returns were not filed with the State of Oklahoma nor the Internal Revenue Service.
As a result of “continued embezzlement, mismanagement, and lack of appropriate and effectual oversight,” the Town of Boynton “has not been able to meet financial obligations or provide acceptable execution of Town business,” Jones concluded.
For example, in March 2014 Boynton’s water supplier, The Haskell Public Works Authority, sought civil relief from the Muskogee County District Court when the Town failed to make approximately $59,141 in payments.
In an agreement dated April 14, 2014, Boynton agreed to pay the Haskell PWA $7,011 and pay out the balance due at the rate of $2,000 per month until the debt was retired. However, the balance due on the account as of April 2018 was $33,176.80, SA&I Jones reported. Court records indicate the case still hasn’t been resolved.
A second civil case was filed by Mahan Construction in 2015 when the Town of Boynton did not pay a contractor for water line repairs. The case resulted in a $7,225 judgment against the town. Boynton was ordered to make annual payments on the judgment until it was satisfied. As of May 2018, no payments had been made on this judgment and the judgment continues to accrue interest of 5.25% annually until paid. A records check by Southwest Ledger on Dec. 26, 2022, indicated the bill still hasn’t been paid.
Jones wrote that during his agency’s two-year audit, the Town of Boynton “continued to be affected by ineffectual management with continued debt, noncompliance with statutes and ordinances, and questionable financial practices.”