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Former Hope Academy Director Owes Over $7,000 to Taxpayers

For Immediate Release

Thursday, January 27, 2022

Contact:

Allie Dumski
Press Secretary

(614) 644-1111

 

Columbus – A finding for recovery was issued against the Kimberly Clinkscale in a recent Hope Academy for Autism audit that was released by Ohio Auditor of State Keith Faber’s Office. The finding totaling $7,302 is the result of improper credit card purchases and reimbursements.

In addition to the lack of controls, poor organization and financial distress, the former Director was pocketing reimbursements from two entities she oversaw and was unable to provide documentation supporting purchases totaling $3,482.

Kimberly Clinkscale was the former Director of Hope Academy for Autism and is the Director/Founder of Shepherd of All God’s Children. She received duplicate reimbursements from both entities for two travel/meeting expenses occurring in 2017 and 2018.

Ms. Clinkscale also maintained the entity’s credit card which accumulated late fees and penalties on top of the cash advances and purchases that could not be confirmed for proper public purchase. Some of the concerns were two payments to a cable company on the same day, a restaurant purchase on a Sunday, and grocery and clothes purchases. Auditors also noted a bank deposit of District funds of $1,000 on February 27, 2019. However, there were bank withdraws on February 26 and 27, 2019 of $500 each.

The full report is available on the AOS website using Audit Search.

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The Auditor of State’s office, one of five independently elected statewide offices in Ohio is responsible for auditing more than 6,000 state and local government agencies. Under the direction of Auditor Keith Faber, the office also provides financial services to local governments, investigates and prevents fraud in public agencies, and promotes transparency in government.