State police are investigating the Albemarle County Circuit Court’s office, Graelyn Brashear reports. Nobody’s saying what it’s all about, other than that it involves an employee of the office, but since the Virginia Auditor of Public Accounts is involved, it’s pretty likely that this is about ongoing financial irregularities in the office’s bookkeeping.
The Clerk of Court is Debbie Shipp, a 30-year veteran of the office who was elected as clerk in 2007 after eight-term incumbent Shelby Marshall stepped down. Annual audits by the Virginia Auditor of Public Accounts started looking grim in 2011, and did not improve any in 2012 or in 2013. Shipp was given the benefit of the doubt by many because of the serial deaths of her son and sister (an employee of her office), but the auditor’s report made clear that her office’s financial practices are chronically irregular, with no plan to improve them, and lack many of the basic practices employed by most people in their personal finances. The Democrat is serving an eight-year term, so she’s not up for reelection until November of next year.
Of course, it’s possible that this investigation is unrelated, but given the involvement of the state auditor, it seems likely that there is suspicion that this is not about incompetence, but fraud. Nobody’s been arrested, nobody’s been charged, and perhaps nobody will be. No word on what the next step is, but apparently the investigation is ongoing.
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