Red Words

A quick note on the Mike Reynolds case:

On the phone today, Deputy District Attorney John Goritz said the reason the case is still investigation is to determine if anyone in the Treasurer's Office has stolen any money. So far, Mike Reynolds has been charged with misappropriation of public funds and two other offenses but has not been accused of stealing anything.

When I last spoke with Reynolds' attorney, Patrick Milligan, (this was Monday) I was told that Reynolds has hired an auditor to investigate whether money was placed in the wrong account or has actually gone missing.

The case revolves around a check that Reynolds wrote in December for about $38,000. The check transferred money from an account under Reynolds' control to the city's general account.

District Attorney's investigators have contended that the transfer was an illegal attempt to cover-up a shortage in the Treasurer's petty cash fund.

Milligan's side of the story is that Reynolds moved the funds around so the city wouldn't be short any dollars pending an internal investigation to learn if money had been misplaced or lost.

We'll see where it goes from here.

Posted by Andrew Edwards at 9:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Patrick Milligan, defense attorney for City Treasurer Mike Reynolds, called me Monday afternoon to discuss the Public Integrity Unit's case against his client.

The Public Integrity Unit is the part of the District Attorney's office that investigates local officials. Reynolds, who has been Redlands' City Treasurer since 1980, was arrested Oct. 24 and has been charged with one count each of misappropriation of public funds, keeping a false record and falsifying documents.

The charges revolve around $37,880.96 that court filings show Reynolds deposited from the Treasurers Trust Account (the account holds money given to the Treasurer's Office before being deposited into city accounts) into city's general account around Sept. 12. One court document shows investigators' view that Reynolds made the transfer to cover up a hole in the city's petty cash supplies.

Milligan seemed confident, and was especially glad to see that Deputy District Attorney John Goritz has said on record that Reynolds is not specifically charged with theft. It looks like Milligan's defense will revolve around the contention that there was no impropriety in the September money transfer.

"If a person was going to cover up a loss, they would not do it by writing a check," Milligan said.

Continue reading "Reynolds' attorney speaks" »

Posted by Andrew Edwards at 4:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

County investigators have alleged that Redlands City Treasurer Mike Reynolds illegally moved more than $37,000 in public funds from a City Hall account to cover a hole in the city's petty cash supplies.

Reynolds is not charged with stealing the money.

What's posted below is an article based on court records that was written Tuesday but doesn't seem to be on our Web site today. I've posted it below for our readers after making a few slight changes intended to make the article more clear.

Continue reading "Treasurer's story" »

Posted by Andrew Edwards at 10:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

City Treasurer Mike Reynolds is scheduled to be arraigned Dec. 5 in San Bernardino Superior Court, he and his attorney Patrick Milligan said.

Reynolds, 58, was arrested last week on suspicion of misappropriation of public funds, keeping a false record; and falsifying documents. He has denied any wrongdoing and Milligan said his client will plead innocent to the charges. The amount of money involved in the case is about $37,000.

Continue reading "Court Date" »

Posted by Andrew Edwards at 9:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)