Drunken driving convictions in Prince George’s County Circuit Court have not been making it into state motor vehicle records, and long-identified problems at the court clerk’s office have gone uncorrected for more than three years, according to a newly released state audit.
Of 20 drunken driving cases reviewed in 2007, 16 had not been reported to state officials and the time from sentencing ranged from 203 days to 465. The audit says the problem stems from a computer error, and in an official response attached to the audit, Clerk Peggy Magee said the problem would be fixed.
A 2005 audit found that of 20 motor vehicle cases filed with the office, six cases, all involving drivers found guilty of drunken driving, were not reported to the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration within the legally required time frame of 15 days. Some of those cases went unreported for as long as 28 days, holding up the state’s ability to officially revoke or suspend licenses.
At the time, Rosalyn Pugh was the Circuit Court clerk, but she didn’t run for re-election and was replaced in 2006 by Magee, who was County Executive Jack Johnson’s secretary in 2002 before being appointed by Johnson as director of the county’s human relations committee in 2004.
The audit shows that while the specific problems with reporting driving records in 2004 might have been fixed, others have cropped up.
A spokeswoman for the clerk declined to comment, saying all questions regarding the audit must be answered by state officials. State officials said it’s the clerk’s responsibility to fix the problem.
Meanwhile, the audit also found glaring faults in the way the clerk’s office handles the annual $63.6 million in land transaction receipts and other collections it receives, opening doors to theft.
Property transaction fees received by mail, which total about $25 million, were often kept in an unlocked room before being processed. Moreover, the two employees who handled cash from criminal transactions had the capability of adjusting accounts to glean dollars off the top.
“As a result of these conditions, unauthorized adjustments could be processed without detection and the related collections misappropriated,” the audit said, although there was no immediate evidence of that happening.
Magee said in her official response that an independent employee now verifies the receipts.
