WINDOM -- Former Windom Economic Development Authority (EDA) Director James Scott King now faces 107 charges of felony theft by swindle after an amended complaint was filed Monday with the Cottonwood County District Court.
There were 23 counts filed on Jan. 6, one day after King was placed on administrative leave. The Windom City Council accepted King's resignation in early February. King, 65, was the EDA Director for 13 years.
The charges stem from an investigation by the Cottonwood County Sheriff's Office that began in November after an audit turned up signs of possible misuse of public funds by a city official. The accountant doing the audit told authorities she became suspicious when she noticed all of the receipts for reimbursement were duplicates.
The expenses in question took place in the year 2004 and the first eight months of 2005. They included allegedly altered hotel receipts, business meetings at various restaurants that the guests -- who were questioned by authorities -- don't remember attending and false mileage reimbursement claims.
The total of the alleged thefts is $3,725.49. Several receipts from a Sheraton Hotel total almost $700, while mileage claims total $538.
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The restaurant receipts bear the names of Southwest Minnesota Housing Partnership employees, people looking at houses in the area, business owners who had or were looking into relocating to Windom, officials from other cities and additional individuals, most of whom told authorities they had never gone out to eat with King.
The restaurant receipts range in price from $15 to $42, but most were in the mid- to low $20 range. More than 70 of the receipts are from PJs in Bingham Lake, and 18 are from the Happy Chef in Windom.
The maximum penalty for each count of theft by swindle is five years imprisonment and/or $10,000.
