Forensic audit reveals Sheriff Brad Coe failed to report, failed to budget $1.6 million income, $1.03 million spending

There's much more. The forensic audit appears below and covers the years 2020 to April 2024.

Taxpayer money. Who does it benefit, really?

Everyone has to make a living. But when you make your living off the taxpayers, you have a special responsiblity to do everything to retain the public trust. And when you’re in charge of tracking taxpayer money, your duty to keep proper records is the biggest duty you have. Everything else comes second.

Our county leaders have failed at that.

There’s another problem. Kinney County has a ton of money - a lot from Operation Lone Star, grant money from the state that’s supposed to reduce irregular immigration (I say “irregular” and not “illegal” because our federal law has a caveat that allows people to claim asylum the minute they step foot on American soil, rendering them, in effect, legally present. If we don’t like that law we need to change it).

Between 2021 and 2024, the county won $12.5 million in OLS grant money. I learned that from watching the Brackett Community Videos You Tube recording of the Jan. 13, 2025 Kinney County Commissioners Court meeting.

Here’s the video. Advance to 22:00.

Video by Adam Olson for Brackett Community Videos

So it wasn’t hard for the sheriff to avoid revealing that he added at least $1.62 million to his department’s coffers. And that he spent at least $1.03 million. All without telling the public, the public that voted this sheriff into office.

Additionally, the sheriff’s office routinely collects cash bail funds from inmates, the audit said. In the years the audit covers, the sheriff’s office had “collected and maintained over $1 million in cash at its office before submitting the funds to the county/district clerk,” the audit said.

Income from the bank account in question - the Kinney County Abandoned Motor Vehicle Escrow Account - came from many different sources: bail bond funds, sales of “abandoned” vehicles, sales of foreclosed property, fees charged to vehicle owners (more on that later), sales of miscellaneous items such as “challenge coins” (more on that later, too), and “other possibly unknown funds,” the audit said. The audit said this account was illegally opened in 1997 by L.K. Burgess, a former Kinney County sheriff.

The account has two signatories, Sheriff Brad Coe and Cynthia Gose, although Gose said she’s never signed a check on that account, the audit said. The account only requires one signatory. County commissioners approved these signatories, the audit added.

Moreover, the account revealed truly bad bookkeeping. For example, from month to month, the ending balance would be different from the beginning balance. Among other things.

“The Audit failed to identify the true source of the funds deposited into the account because there was limited documentation maintained to identify the funds,” the audit said. “The Sheriff’s Office advised that they did not maintain any supporting documentation such as copies of checks deposited or documentation of some cash receipts.”

The audit also revealed what looks like punitive behavior. People are charged to get their vehicles out of impound, right? They have to pay a towing fee (set by the state at $272), and an administrative fee, once set at $300. On Jan. 1, 2024, the administrative fee increased to $700.

The audit could not find authorization by commissioners court to increase the administrative fee. And, it said, the sheriff was paying some towing companies more than is authorized by law.

These declarations are supported by exhibits that are attached to the audit, which I’ve included as a pdf below. Watch out. It’s 350 pages long.

Additionally, the sheriff’s office maintains an inmate account which had a balance of about $823. The money is in trust and so does not belong to the sheriff or the county. However, the sheriff’s office could not say who this money came from. Finally, the county has not kept inmates for some time, the audit said.

All this money is on top of the sheriff’s regular budget.

How much money does one sheriff need?

Unapproved expenditures for his unbudgeted and unreported revenue include labor, capital assets, donations and gifts, equipment and supplies, maintenance of vehicles, marketing, electric installation of camera towers, meals, subscriptions and dues, and other miscellaneous.

Interesting, that “marketing” category. At the showing of “2,000 Mules” at the Fort Clark Springs Post Theater a few years ago, the sheriff handed out what I think of as party favors, including tiny red flashlights emblazoned with “Kinney County Sheriff’s Office” and a phone number.

I always thought what a waste of money that was. Fun, yes. An effective use of money to control immigration, no. And now I can add to that list “challenge coins” which are medallions etched with a logo that probably originated with the military. I’m told they’re common now in border patrol and law enforcement circles and are traded and collected.

This, when we have citizens in this county who pay taxes but make only $15,000 a year. Wow.

The audit didn’t mention tracking of money that goes to landowners who have claimed damages caused by migrants cutting fences and waterlines, leaving gates open and trash on the ground, and messing with solar pumps on wells to get power to charge their phones.

In a broadcast interview with Fox in 2021, Kinney County Commissioner Tim Ward talked about damage to his fence costing $150,000, due to migrants cutting the wires to get through. I read a story a couple of years ago in the Kinney County Post intimating that a migrant caused damage after unhooking whatever was attached to a tractor’s PTO, cranking it up and taking off cross country, flattening fences along the way. Seems a bit wild, but who knows?

The audit also targeted the county auditor, the county treasurer and the county/district clerk, but did not review reporting - or lack of reporting - from the county attorney.

The audit also mentioned doing a grant inventory of each of the departments, including the sheriff’s department. In this case, the county’s two primary grants, it noted, are state - Operation Lone Star - and federal - Operation Stonegarden.

The audit called OLS “a crucial financial resource,” and that the “comprehensive inventory” was intended to “identify items purchased with these significant grant funds since September 2022, thereby determining the effectiveness of procedures and controls in place to maintain control of items purchased.”

The audit mentions a missing pistol bought with the illegal account that has no record of who it was assigned to.

The audit also pointed to the sheriff paying current and outside employees without issuing W-2s or 1099s. He didn’t turn that information in to the treasurer’s office, which is responsible for payroll, the audit said.

“The Sheriff’s Office misused funds to reimburse Sheriff and Administrative assistant for travel costs that not only exceeded the County per diem but had been denied reimbursement by the Auditor,” the audit added.

There’s more. The forensic audit included two pages on the shortcomings of the county auditor, part of a page on the county treasurer and another part of a page on the county/district clerk.

The audit findings were sobering. In addition to five points about the sheriff, it pointed out that the county auditor hadn’t done a proper audit in eight years. The county auditor hadn’t developed a formal system for the other departments to report their finances each month. And the county auditor’s department oversees accounts payable, and therefore is responsible for auditing its own work.

Additionally, “the County Clerk was unable or unwilling to provide bank statements, bank account reconciliations and/or supporting documentation of monthly reports submitted to the Commissioner’s Court.”

The audit also mentioned the county’s external audits, which are done annually by an accounting firm: “The external Auditor for the County noted continued deficiencies from prior audits in the County….”

The best thing the audit had to say was that “the County Treasurer is materially in compliance with its duties and responsibilities.” The audit suggested turning over accounts payable to the treasurer.

I’m speechless. But that’s what happens when you have an abundance of money. You don’t have to worry about how much there is. Or where it goes.

Commissioners have started taking action to correct these problems, but it’s slow going.

Kinney County Judge John Paul Schuster told me he would send to me on Tuesday details about closing the sheriff’s account and transferring the remaining money to the general fund.

He will also send me a list of other corrections that are under commissioners court control. However, he said the sheriff, the county auditor (a new one, not the old one) and the other departments are responsible for making their own corrections.

How much control should the commissioners court have over other departments? Some are run by elected officials, like the sheriff, the county treasurer and the county/district clerk. Add to that the county attorney, justice of the peace, constable and tax assessor, who are also elected officials in this jurisdiction.

Interestingly, the county auditor is appointed by the district judge (we’re under the 63rd Judicial District Court of Texas).

But each department - including departments not headed by an elected official - has the opportunity to report to commissioners in open meeting each month. The big ones to me are the sheriff and the county auditor, but Schuster said neither of them has reported to commissioners on any corrections.

Commissioners have had the audit since Nov. 12, 2024.

The audit recommends that the sheriff “cease to accept funds for bail bonds, impound fees or anything other than funds related to inmates (and) submit said funds to the County/District Clerk’s Office.”

Also, surrender the inmate account money; train the administrative assistant to reconcile bank accounts, maintain records of funds in the Inmate Fund Account and pay employees through the county human resources office; and ensure that all employees with badges are trained and certifed.

Here’s the audit.

Here’s a pdf to download. The last 329 pages are the attached exhibits.

Forensic Audit

31.1MB ∙ PDF file

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