Santa Cruz County faults Arizona Auditor in missing $39 million

Santa Cruz County is pushing back against an Arizona Auditor General report that says county officials bear some of the blame for not catching more than $39 million missing from accounts managed by former Santa Cruz County Treasurer Elizabeth Gutfahr.

Santa Cruz County is suing Gutfahr in civil court. There are no criminal charges but the FBI is looking at the case.

The County says over ten years Gutfahr diverted more than 39 million in taxpayer dollars into personal accounts.

A report from the Arizona Auditor General says Gutfahr used various methods to avoid detection but claimed better oversight by the county could have discovered what she was allegedly doing.

Santa Cruz County says the Auditor’s report tries to deflect blame from the Auditor’s own failure to find the missing funds over ten years time. The County has sent the Auditor a letter threatening to sue over how the Auditor reviewed the former Treasurer’s actions.

In a related development, the judge in the civil suit has approved a court-appointed receiver’s request to sell 100 to 150 of Gutfahr’s cattle so the receivership doesn’t have to spend money to feed them.

The judge put a receiver in control of Gutfahr’s assets so she can’t hide or liquidate anything purchased with taxpayer money.

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Craig Smith is a reporter for KGUN 9 . With more than 40 years of reporting in cities like Tampa, Houston and Austin, Craig has covered more than 40 Space Shuttle launches and covered historic hurricanes like Katrina, Ivan, Andrew and Hugo. Share your story ideas and important issues with Craig by emailing craig.smith@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook and Twitter .