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The press conference is scheduled for 1 p.m. in Downtown St. Louis. The
press release announcing the press conference said the office will release
the full report.

ST. LOUIS — Former Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner spent more than $50,000
without permission and allowed the rate of cases processed to crater while spending nearly 35 work days taking nursing courses, an audit from the
Missouri State Auditor said.

"Taxpayers should be outraged by how this office was run into the ground
by Gardner at the same time she was using tax dollars to throw parties for
her staff, and to pay for her personal legal fees that were a result of
her own incompetence," Missouri State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick said in a
press release.

Fitzpatrick released the report Tuesday, three and a half years after the investigation started. The report said part of that delay was due to
Gardner “repeatedly” ignoring or delaying requests from the auditor’s
office for two years and only responding after being subpoenaed.

“The CAO also provided limited information, denied onsite access needed to conduct interviews and perform audit work, and unnecessarily redacted documentation,” the report said.

Studying instead of working
5 On Your Side had previously reported that Gardner spent work days
studying for a nursing degree rather than fulfilling her duties as circuit attorney. The audit found how much time she missed.

According to the audit, there were 40 separate incidents where Gardner
spent time during normal business hours taking Saint Louis University
courses to get a Family Nurse Practitioner Post-Master’s Certificate. Of
those 40 instances, 29 were full days and 11 were half days, totaling
nearly seven work weeks.

Decline in efficiency
The audit said Gardner oversaw a steep decline in cases processed and a significant increase in the length of time needed to dispose of cases.

According to the audit, Gardner’s office took an average of 463 days to
dispose of a case. That was 170 days longer than the preceding
administration and more than double the current administration's average
of 142 days. The Missouri Supreme Court recommends prosecutors clear 95%
of case within 14 months, but Gardner’s office failed to do that, the
audit said.

https://media.ksdk.com/assets/KSDK/images/bbba8b82-01d1-4c9f-859a- 7366ab15c6bb/20250107T193916/bbba8b82-01d1-4c9f-859a- 7366ab15c6bb_1920x1080.jpg

The audit found that in 2021, Gardner’s office was taking an average of 75
days between when cases were referred to her office and when charges were filed, more than seven times longer than any year reviewed in the audit
from her predecessor Jennifer Joyce or the current office under Gabe Gore.

In addition to the slower clearance time, Gardner’s office was refusing
charges more frequently. Her office refused charges 59% of the time. That
was about a 40% higher rate than Joyce and Gore.

https://media.ksdk.com/assets/KSDK/images/f35bee73-cd64-4772-b6fc- fbbd77db6dd3/20250107T185437/f35bee73-cd64-4772-b6fc- fbbd77db6dd3_1920x1080.jpg

Spending on parties and personal legal fees
Another issue found during the audit was the misuse of nearly $60,000 by
her office.

The audit said her office maintained a contingency bank account outside of
the city’s treasury, which violated state law. That money, which is
supposed to be used to help prosecute cases with things like transporting out-of-state witnesses, was then used on things like party rentals, a
Sam’s Club membership and paying Gardner’s personal legal fees.

Late last year, Gardner admitted to directing her employees to issue her
checks from the office's contingent fund, which totaled $5,004.33 and
entered a pretrial diversion program.

The audit gave Gardner's office the lowest possible rating of "poor" and
backed up contemporaneous accounts of the office.

"The judge at the time said Gardner was the captain of a 'rudderless ship
of chaos' and our report backs up that claim by detailing how the
performance of the Circuit Attorney's Office declined significantly
because of her neglect and mismanagement," said Fitzpatrick.

https://auditor.mo.gov/AuditReport/ViewReport?report=2025001&token=5308587
993

https://www.ksdk.com/article/news/politics/missouri-auditor-report-st- louis-circuit-attorneys-office-kim-gardner/63-3a83a8a1-240a-4b86-9a26- 69cc23199ad3?ref=exit-recirc

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