No matter how stupid you’ve been lately, this little news item should make you feel better. It seems that Ford’s CEO isn’t the only dimwit in the state.

Michigan treasurer falls for Nigerian scam

A public treasurer in the Michigan county of Alcona stands accused of embezzling tax payers out of more than $1.2m, at least part of which was used to cover costs he incurred falling for a Nigerian banking fraud.

Thomas Katona, the former Treasurer of Alcona County, was charged with nine felonies. According (http://www.michigan.gov/ag/0,1607,7-164-34739_34811-160250–,00.html) to the Michigan Attorney General’s office, the 56-year-old beancounter, who held his post for 13 years, also plowed $72,000 of his own money into the fraud.

County officials first suspected something was amiss late last year, when bank employees informed them Katona had sent eight payments totaling $186,500 to overseas accounts, six of which were associated with peddlers of the Nigerian scheme. He stepped down in November as authorities commenced an investigation.

…bank employees had warned Katona that the investment was a sham, but the treasurer ignored the warnings. An audit eventually showed that more than $1.2m was missing from county coffers…

Now get up off the floor and go read the rest: LINKOID

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 27th, 2007 at 4:19 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.