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Cerro Gordo attorney’s office announces no criminal charges to be brought after $2.2 million of improper disbursements identified in Mason City School District under former Superintendents Anita Micich and Mike Penca

MASON CITY – The Cerro Gordo attorney’s office announced today that no criminal charges are to be brought after $2.2 million of improper disbursements were identified in Mason City School District under former Superintendents Anita Micich and Mike Penca.

According to a statement from the Cerro Gordo county attorney’s office:

A State of Iowa Auditor’s Office Audit Report was completed December 27, 2018, concerning the Mason City Community School District. The audit covered a period from July 1. 2009, through August 31, 2017. The County Attorney’s Office was provided a copy as normal protocol, The County Attorney’s Office with the assistance of the Division of Criminal Investigation conducted a criminal review with the goal of assessing the appropriateness of criminal charges. Years worth of materials covering the time period in question were reviewed, including the audit, interviews, emails, contracts, board minutes, and the DCI investigation. Due to the sensitive nature of the case and impact it has had on the community, the County Attorney’s Office requested a second review of the evidence and opinion from the Attorney General’s Office on whether any criminal violations had taken place. The Attorney General’s Area Prosecution Division independently reviewed the case and determined that “there is insufficient evidence to support any criminal charges concerning this matter.” The County Attorney’s Office concurs with this opinion.

The decision not to prosecute is purely a review for criminal violations and has no impact on civil remedies that may be available to the Mason City Community School District. The review of potential civil claims would be conducted by attorneys representing the Mason City School District.

This past December, the Auditor of the State of Iowa released a bombshell report that alleged over $2.2 million of improper disbursements in the Mason City School District under former Superintendents Anita Micich and Mike Penca.

The Cerro Gordo County Attorney’s Office was notified of possible crimes in the matter and the public patiently awaited any potential actions by County Attorney Carlyle Dalen.  Today’s announcement is the culmination of that months-long wait by Mason City taxpayers who will now be left scratching their heads over the lost millions.

In December’s report, then-Auditor Mary Mosiman showed the special investigation identified $2,238,952.08 of improper disbursements comprised of $108,673.24 identified in the report on the reaudit and $2,130,278.84 identified in this report. The $2,238,952.08 of improper disbursements identified includes $1,344,314.30 of contract salary issued to various MCCSD administrators, $217,405.64 for MCCSD’s share of FICA and IPERS on the improper payroll, $387,682.09 of MCCSD contributions to TSA accounts for various administrators, $171,998.36 for the resignation package awarded to the former Superintendent, Dr. Anita Micich, and $117,551.69 of vacation balance payouts to various MCCSD administrators.

The $1,344,314.30 of improper contract salary identified is comprised of actual salary issued to 66 employees which exceeded the authorized salary calculated using the percentage increases approved by the Board and other monetary benefits, such as vehicle allowances and cell phone allowances, awarded to employees without a provision in their contract and/or approval by the Board.

ANITA MICICH left Mason City with a large sum of money she may not have earned.

Former (and some current) district employees were the top recipients of improper over-payments.  Among them:

Anita Micich 473,978.74
Thomas Jumper 150,185.41
Ramona Jeffrey 127,341.80
Randy Meyer 117,290.12
Hal Minear 116,188.92
Susan Deike 113,010.52
Jennifer Wilmarth 78,077.33
John Berg 72,218.65
Jerry Siglin 68,816.21
Thomas Novotney 62,859.49
Barbara Wells 54,866.70
Julie Bigler 50,007.40
Don Teeter 47,941.45
Richard Huff 42,038.40
Mike Penca 38,769.70
Brooke Brunsvold 33,122.85
Jeff Poppe 32,938.19
Lisa Christianson 26,880.32
Debra Wilson 24,223.94
Shelly Nelson 23,323.94
Kris Murphy 20,286.71
Kristi Penner 18,045.57
Dave Ciccetti 17,593.64
Kara Hutchison 13,101.25
Teresa Schlichting 12,355.40
Jodie Anderson 11,083.07
Doug Abbas 10,508.50

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