By Michael Howell
Ravalli County District Court Judge Jeffrey Langton issued a default judgment in Ravalli County’s case against former county treasurer “Valerie Stamey, a/k/a Valerie Scott and Valerie Addis” for $151,478.22 for having committed official misconduct by failing to perform the statutory duties of her office.
Stamey was appointed by the Board of County Commissioners to fill a vacancy in the treasurer’s office on September 9, 2013. As County Treasurer she signed documents using the name Valerie Stamey, but her own paychecks as treasurer were being issued to Valerie Scott, and the vehicle she drove at the time was registered to Valerie Addis.
Unbeknownst to the commissioners at the time of appointing her, a default judgment had been entered against her in Ravalli County District Court for $30,000 over an unpaid credit card bill. Another default judgment entered against her in a South Carolina court, in September, 2011, included allegations that Stamey, using her maiden name Valerie Addis at the time, received a check for $18,149 issued on a mortgage based loan and made out to her credit card company. She was accused of using the account information contained on the check to make a phone payment for $18,149 and then also submitting the check for payment, in fact making a double payment to the tune of $36,298.
Following Stamey’s appointment, the treasurer’s office slipped into a state of dysfunction. Checks written to the treasurer’s office were not clearing the bank and complaints began pouring in from school districts, irrigation districts, and fire districts throughout the county that they were not receiving current account statements.
Things came to a head when the Bitterroot Star uncovered the South Carolina default judgment. The Commissioners set a meeting date and demanded an explanation concerning the allegations. Stamey showed up at the meeting but instead of responding to the demands she read a litany of accusations of her own against the County Attorney, a couple of the County Commissioners, the Chief Finance Officer, former treasurers, and other county employees, accusing all of them of crimes. She said that too much of her time was consumed with investigating these criminal activities and that her efforts to carry out her duties were being sabotaged by the employees.
As a result of that January 23, 2014 meeting, Stamey was placed on administrative leave with pay, the Treasurer’s office was locked and an investigation was begun.
The office was found to be in disarray with “thousands of dollars in the form of checks and currency scattered about the office accompanied by half-completed paper work.” In total, according to the accounting firm Anderson ZurMuehlen & Co, hired to analyze the status of things, there was $951,587.72 in the office that had not yet been deposited, properly receipted, or entered into the county’s bookkeeping software. No money was subsequently determined to be missing.
The county also hired retired Judge Wm. Nels Swandal to investigate and resolve Stamey’s allegations. He found no evidence of wrongdoing on the part of the commissioners or the county attorney.
The county also employed retired Beaverhead County Treasurer Kathy Allard to help get the office back up and running. It took five months to correct the backlog, restore normal operational service, and verify final cash balances. Out-of-pocket expenses for the whole thing totaled $122,478.22.
On February 18, 2014, the Board of Commissioners held a meeting and found that Stamey had failed to meet the requirements of the law by neglecting or refusing to report on at least 55 occasions and failed to settle on at least three occasions, totaling 58 instances.
On March 10, 2014, the Board adopted a resolution requiring Stamey to pay $500 for each instance, totaling $29,000, and directed the county attorney to file suit to collect the sum. But County Attorney Bill Fulbright did not act.
On June 20, 2014, the Board found that Stamey had committed official misconduct and directed the County Attorney to file suit alleging official misconduct and on June 25, 2014 they finally suspended Stamey’s appointment without pay.
On June 23, the County Attorney filed the case seeking the $29,000 in fines plus the $122,478.22 in out-of-pocket expenses for a total of $151,478.22 which will bear interest at the legal rate until paid in full.
The county attempted six times over the following two years to serve papers on Stamey but failed until finally delivering them to her in South Carolina, resulting in Langton’s default judgment in favor of the county on October 5, 2016 for the entire amount requested.
Asked if he had any comment on the order, County Commissioner Jeff Burrows, who voted in favor of Stamey’s appointment as Treasurer in 2013, said, “We’ll probably never see a dime of the money, but at least we can maybe prevent this from happening to somebody else. I think with all the publicity she’s gotten here that she will never be able to serve in any capacity involving public trust.”
“It’s closure for us, getting it all kind of finalized,” he said. “We’ve done as much as we could on our part to get something done. Now, we’ll just have to wait and see how it goes.”