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Police conducting criminal investigation of community center audit findings
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BATON ROUGE - Baton Rouge Police are investigating problems with the Jewel J. Newman Community Center that were discovered in a recent city-parish audit.
The audit found property missing, unaccounted for, or shipped to locations other than the center. Metro Councilman Anthony Kenney, whose district the community center is located within, requested it after he took office in January.
In a statement released late Friday, police said the investigation is "to determine if there is any criminal allegations or if there is possible clerical error."
A $13,000 copier and a $5,000 treadmill were among the items missing, as were dozens of receipts documenting the use of public funds.
Auditors found that former Metro Councilwoman Chauna Banks sometimes had some purchases with community center funds delivered to her home rather than the center.
Banks said she did that because of safety concerns about deliveries there.
The audit, which was released in May, also noted that furniture and equipment from the center had been moved to a shuttered fire station nearby. It leaked, which led to damage to some of the center's property.
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