BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — A new independent forensic audit searching for more missing money or evidence of criminal activity from the Erie County Clerk’s Office did uncover internal control problems and some inconsistencies in money transfers.
But the auditors with Weaver and Tidwell LLP did not find evidence of additional criminal activity after former deputy clerk Alexander J. McDougall pleaded guilty in August 2024 to grand larceny in the second degree and offering a false instrument for filing in the first degree. McDougall embezzled more than $320,000 from the clerk’s office to pay his rent and other personal expenses, and is serving a sentence of 1 1/3 to 4 years in prison.
The 74-page report by Weaver and Tidwell LLP still stirred the pot by including two cryptic emails McDougall sent to himself in 2022, with the subject headlines “extortion money” and “Mickey’s extortion money,” believed to be a reference to Erie County Clerk Michael “Mickey” Kearns…