Insurance could help Union County recover nearly half of the more than $200,000 allegedly embezzled by the former clerk of court, Supervisor Tommy Sinclair says.

Brad Morris resigned as clerk of court in October just as a SLED audit of his office was getting under way. A month later he was arrested by SLED and charged with embezzlement of public funds and misconduct in office. Morris is alleged to have embezzled more than $200,000 in public funds for his personal use during the first 10 months of the year.

How those funds will be recovered had not been publicly discussed until Wednesday when Sinclair said $100,000 of it could be made good by an insurance policy the county has on Morris. Sinclair said upon election as clerk of court, Morris was bonded by an insurance company. He said the bond would allow the county to recover any funds lost due to actions — both legal and illegal — by Morris up to $100,000.

Even though Morris resigned in October, Sinclair said the county is continuing to pay for his bonding until his case is resolved. While the county will file an intent to collect next week, Sinclair said the insurance will probably not pay until the case is resolved.

As for the balance of the funds, Sinclair said one possible avenue of recovery is court-ordered restitution if Morris is found guilty and ordered by the court to repay the county. If restitution is not forthcoming, Sinclair said the county will have to try and make up the balance from its own resources.

The investigation that led to Morris’ arrest was initiated after Union County Sheriff David Taylor said he received a complaint Sept. 11 involving a $34 check from the child support account overseen by Morris. While the bank cashed the check, it reported the account to be overdrawn. Taylor became concerned there might be a potential problem with more checks so he contacted Sixteenth Circuit Solicitor Kevin Brackett to ask that SLED investigate the matter.

Freddie Gault, a former police officer appointed by Gov. Mark Sanford to serve out Morris’ term as clerk, said Wednesday when he took office he found the child support account in good shape. However, he soon discovered the clerk’s office was 13 months behind on in its monthly reports on the fines handed down in General Sessions, Common Pleas and Family courts. It is the responsibility of the clerk’s office to collect these fines, keep a record of them and send the money along with a report to the State Treasurer every month.

The reporting process was handled by Morris who Gault said had fallen behind on it, but would not speculate on why this had happened.

Gault called in June Miller who had served 20 years as clerk of court before retiring in 2004 to catch up on the reports. Since beginning work on Nov. 23, Gault said Mrs. Miller had caught up seven months of reports and conducted a preliminary audit of the clerk’s “bond received fund.” The fund is financed by fines and fees levied by the General Sessions, Common Pleas and Family courts and Gault said Mrs. Miller found a discrepancy in the amount of money that should be on hand and what was actually in the account.

In a report to Sinclair released Wednesday, Gault states, based on Mrs. Miller’s findings, there should be approximately $157,986.90 in the account to cover the bonds received by the clerk’s office. Gault said he contacted Monty Lancaster at Arthur State Bank on Tuesday and was told the current balance in the clerk’s account was $429,167.31 of which $299,360 is money received and held for a foreclosures sale. He writes this leaves a balance of $129,807.31 or a negative of $28,179.59.

Gault would not speculate on the reason for the shortfall and/or whether it is related to the activities of Morris. He did say he believes as Mrs. Miller continues her work of catching up the reports the imbalance in the fund will grow but refused to say whether it would equal the amount allegedly embezzled by Morris.

While his office is still able to meet its commitments to the State Treasurer, Gault said over the next five months there may be a shortfall. He said he may have to go before Union County Council to ask for assistance in meeting those commitments.