Amid probe of missing funds, Aston takes leave

Jeff Schweers

Wednesday, Oct. 8, 1997 | 10:46 a.m.

Clark County Treasurer Mark Aston, the subject of an investigation into funds missing from a professional organization's bank account, has taken a leave of absence.

"I guess you could call it that," County Manager Dale Askew said Tuesday after he was contacted by Aston's lawyer, Lamond Mills, a former U.S. attorney for Nevada.

"On the surface it looks like he's given up, but his attorney said he wasn't resigning or stepping down, just that he would not be coming in for the time being," Askew said.

Investigators are questioning funds missing from a bank account Aston set up to deposit donations he'd solicited to help pay for the County Fiscal Officers Association's conference last May in Mesquite.

The case could go to a county grand jury as early as next week, officials said.

Mills told him Aston would not be coming into his office "until the issue is resolved," Askew said.

"What that means I'm not sure," Askew said. "Until the charges against him are resolved, until such time as he considers it resolved, or until we've completed our auditing procedures. He just informed me through his attorneys that he wouldn't be coming in."

Since investigators questioned Aston on Sept. 30, he has only been to his office once.

Assistant Treasurer Jeff Adams will fill in for Aston for the time being, Askew said, and would be the county manager's contact person to keep informed on activities in the treasurer's office.

Aston was reprimanded by the state Ethics Commission last month for using taxpayer funds to "circumvent the county purchasing system" to buy equipment for his office. The ethics complaint stemmed from a county audit last year that found several improprieties, including the acceptance of $42,000 in computer equipment from companies Aston does business with, waiving $2 million in delinquent penalties and using interest on a tax receiver account to pay for two consultants.

The Ethics Commission is conducting its own investigation into those contracts, which were issued to investment adviser Chris Bunker and attorney Zev Kaplan without County Commission approval.

A county audit team this week raised further questions about Bunker's relationship with the investment firms the county does business with and how he was paid for his services.

More bad news about Aston arose when District Attorney Stewart Bell confirmed last week that the longtime county treasurer was under investigation for possible misuse of funds connected with the private organization for public finance officials.

Aston has refused to comment about the investigation.

Aston, who presided over the 82-member organization from 1995-96, was this year's host committee chairman for the annual meeting. As such he solicited donations from corporations such as Merrill Lynch and Bank of America to sponsor dinners, cocktail hours and golf tournaments.

Normally, the host committee is supposed to solicit donations and send the checks to the association's secretary/treasurer, who deposits the checks into an account set up to pay the conference expenses, said Humboldt County Clerk Susan Harrer, who has been the association's secretary/treasurer for the last four years.

But in this case, Aston didn't send the checks, Harrer said, but he did ask for money: $2,500 for the convention facility at the Oasis in Mesquite and other miscellaneous expenses.

"From the best we can ascertain, all the conference expenses were paid," Harrer said. The final bill for the Oasis alone was $13,400.

Officers of the association contacted the Clark County district attorney's office when Aston refused several requests for an accounting of the remaining funds.

"I requested an accounting a couple times, and when I didn't receive anything I got concerned," Harrer said. "So I called our president, who tried to contact him some more but didn't get any results and contacted the district attorney in Clark County."

Metro Detective Bruce Blair of the fraud detail told Harrer and other association officers that Aston had raised more than that -- anywhere from $30,000 to $35,000. That leaves $17,000 to $22,000 unaccounted for.

"I was naturally disappointed in the fact that as a fiscal officer he'd do it to the association," Harrer said.

Clark County Clerk Loretta Bowman, who was secretary/treasurer for several years starting in 1966, said she was stunned by the amount of money.

"It's hard for me to believe that he would have taken any of that money for his own benefit," Bowman said.

Blair said investigators were not sure what the actual amount is, that it could be lower.

"We don't have a final accounting," Blair said. "We don't have that information."

What Metro also lacks is a smoking gun -- some kind of expenditure that would account for the missing sum. On the other hand, Aston has yet to produce the evidence that could clear him -- such as receipts or checks showing how the missing money was spent.

"The investigation is ongoing and will be ongoing until such time as we can come to a final conclusion on this thing," Blair said. "We are going to pursue it."