THREE AGENTS ADDED TO COUNTY FRAUD UNIT.Byline: Troy Anderson Anderson, river, Canada Anderson, river, c.465 mi (750 km) long, rising in several lakes in N central Northwest Territories, Canada. It meanders north and west before receiving the Carnwath River and flowing north to Liverpool Bay, an arm of the Arctic Staff Writer In Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County's expanding crackdown crack·down n. An act or example of forceful regulation, repression, or restraint: a crackdown on crime. Noun 1. on waste, fraud and abuse, three investigators are being added to the auditor's special investigations unit, officials said Monday. The number of investigations opened as a result of tips to the county's fraud hotline jumped from 279 in 2000 to 512 last year, an 84 percent increase. The number is expected to rise 37 percent this year to 700. ``The number has been going up every year,'' Auditor-Controller Tyler McCauley said. ``It's an estimate, but it's been increasing at a fairly rapid rate.'' The announcement follows a Daily News report last month that fraud and waste by county employees and contractors had resulted in a record number of convictions and firings in 2003, involving $1.5 million. Chief Administrative Officer A chief administrative officer (CAO) is responsible for administrative management of private, public or governmental corporations. The CAO is one of the highest ranking members of an organization, managing daily operations and usually reporting directly to the chief executive David Janssen subsequently recommended adding three investigators to the 11-member unit to help handle the backlog Backlog The total value of sales orders waiting to be fulfilled. Notes: This figure is used mainly in the manufacturing industry. Increases or decreases in a company's backlog indicate the future direction of sales and earnings. of 60 cases. Since the inception of the fraud hotline in 1988, created at Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich's request, it has helped investigators uncover more than $12 million in fraud. McCauley is projecting that his investigators will uncover $2 million to $4 million in fraud this year. Since 1998, McCauley's auditors also found that more than $9 million was misspent mis·spend tr.v. mis·spent , mis·spend·ing, mis·spends To spend improperly or extravagantly; squander: misspent the funds; misspent their youth. by private foster care agencies on exotic vacations, luxury vehicles and other unallowable expenses. County welfare fraud investigators detect between $10 million and $20 million in welfare fraud each year. The county's 24-hour fraud hotline can be reached at (800) 544-6861. Troy Anderson, (213) 974-8985 troy.anderson(at)dailynews.com |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion