BCI investigation into missing GOP funds remains ongoing

A BCI investigation into missing funds within the Harrison County Republican Party has been partially completed, according to a BCI spokesperson. It was initially believed that the entire investigation had been completed and handed down to Harrison County Prosecutor Lauren Knight but according to the spokesperson, only a “portion” of the report was given to her.

The partial report was given to Knight Monday, April 20 regarding an alleged missing $17,000. Knight was asked about the report during a break in court proceedings April 21 but she wasn’t able to answer the question. A call to Knight’s office later in the week asking if she had actually received the report and if there was a possible conflict of interest where the case might have to be handled by an out of county prosecutor, her office would only issue a statement saying that the matter is under investigation and offered no further comment.

“All we can say is BCI is investigating,” per her office, which appeared contradictory to what BCI had said through a phone call April 20 that they had completed the investigation. But another call to BCI April 24 cleared that up when the spokesperson said only a portion had been sent to Knight and that BCI was still investigating the matter.

The case has apparently centered on Board of Elections Director Dion Troiano, who was not mentioned in the initial article published in the News-Herald Feb. 27 (“Harrison County Republican Party under investigation for missing funds”) but had also been treasurer of the Harrison County Republican Party. Holly Brindley, Harrison County Board of Elections member said election officials entered into an executive session April 20 that included Knight. The session lasted about an hour, which was proceeded by another half-hour of open meeting where they voted to place Troiano on “administrative leave with pay.”

It is not clear how long Troiano has been treasurer because no one will answer the question. Chairman of the Harrison County Republican Party John Jones was reached for comment via phone but would not answer how long Troiano had been treasurer.

“I have no answer to give you there,” he said. “You’ll have to find that out from someone else.”

He initially said he could not confirm that Knight had received the BCI report and said he had “no clue.”

“I’ve not seen anything other than Lauren said she had it but I can’t answer that either,” Jones said. “She said she had a report but I didn’t see no report.”

Jones continued by saying he felt it wasn’t right for him to be giving out any information when the matter was under investigation. He did say he was present at that BOE meeting April 20.

“It’s not being handled by me so therefore, I don’t feel it’s right for me to give out anything...as far as I’m concerned everything was taken care of the right way,” Jones said.

He then took issue with the initial story published Feb. 27 when he accused the paper of saying he did not report the issue in a timely manner. That is incorrect as the original statement read: “The tipster also said that Jones did not “report the theft” but that is also incorrect.” It was the anonymous tip that accused Jones of not reporting the matter but the paper was actually defending him. The story did say that the “problem may have been known for more than a week,” as told by a source but no blame had been attached to that statement. It is understandable that some time was needed to find out what they were dealing with.

Apparently, Jones did report the alleged missing money but it was not known at that time. When reached by phone, Marsha Ferrell, secretary for the party, would only say that Troiano was no longer the treasurer for the party but would not say how long he’d been in that position.