Bob Wichlinski is accused of stealing $2,038 (€1,909) worth of equipment from his former employers.
The NWI Times reported that Wichlinski has been accused two years after he left the job at Porter County, and that he denies knowing anything about the missing equipment. However the Indiana State Board of Accounts claims that the “items were purchased in 2014 using a county credit card that drew from an auditor’s office fund”, a fact they discovered on releasing a new audit.
Wichlinski has been asked to pay back the county for the cost of a computer, memory card, software, three printers and a briefcase, which cannot be found. Wichlinski said “I didn’t steal anything, I don’t have it”, and also said that the credit card was “in the hands of his chief financial person and was used by officials from various other departments” even though it was “managed by the auditors’ office.
“There [are] a lot of transactions I didn’t know about. Someone’s name had to be on it. The auditor’s name was on the credit card, but I was never the custodian of it”. Wichlinski stated that he had returned all the equipment to the information technology department before his departure from the office in 2014 after four years in employment.
He added that “the accusations don’t make sense” considering he has “owned a computer company for nearly 24 years”, adding that “I don’t need to steal computers and printers”. The audit said that Wichlinski “did not respond” when he was contacted, but he refutes this saying that it was “untrue”, and that he had been to the local office in September and spoken with someone by telephone, adding that he thought “someone’s on a witch hunt”.
Dan Whitten, Porter County Council President, said “I hope it’s a mistake”. and that he doesn’t want to believe that “anyone stole the equipment”. Vicki Urbanik, Porter County Auditor who replaced Wichlinski, said that they had not received any reimbursements for “the funds flagged by the state”, while the audit is being reviewed by Brian Gensel, Porter County Prosecutor.
Wichlinski also questioned “why anyone would want to run for public office when two years later they can be held responsible for something they know nothing about”, and added that Porter County is “already unique in the state” as it had “been through five auditors in as many terms”.