Iowa Audit Says County Official Took Money For Fake Intern

A state audit says a county employee in Iowa who faked having an intern collected nearly $219,000 in improper payments.

The Des Moines Register reports that the audit report says 43-year-old Jodi Sutter was fired in February 2018 as Henry County’s environmental specialist after she was unable to produce documentation for expenses and admitted lying about having an intern for whom she sought reimbursements. Sutter has sued the county for wrongful termination and unpaid wages.

Sutter said Tuesday in a statement released by her attorney that she’d “discovered substantial gaps in the (audit) report, which call into question its findings.”

The audit report says the county’s board of health didn’t review Sutter’s claims for reimbursement and wages, erroneously believing that county supervisors were handling the oversight.