Mecklenburg County Commissioners Locate Missing DSS Money

Mecklenburg County leaders said they now know where all of the missing Department of Social Services money went, but still aren't sure what happened or who is to blame.

Auditors said DSS gave an employee $162,000 to spend on needy families. Eyewitness News was told they just figured out where the last $23,000 went.

They believe some of that money didn't get spent, and that the rest of it got spent on things DSS considered too pricey to reimburse, like a leather jacket, DVD player, and diamond earrings.

County commissioners said they want to rebuild trust with the public and so they'll keep digging for answers.

Republican Bill James, the only accountant on commission, said, "We're trying our best to get to the core of the issue, but, it's not good enough just to say the money was missing and it was repaid."

In the meantime, police are still investigating if anyone broke the law. And-as Eyewitness news has reported before, the county has stripped DSS of a lot of its credit card spending and check-writing power.