The two documents below are standard monthly reports submitted to the court for review. These reports are available under open records and interested parties can review these documents to learn exactly how much money the WAO receives each month, the source of its income, and how the money is spent in the care of the WAO animals left behind.
Please pay particular attention as to where the WAO spends its money:
Bankruptcy Court - Small Business Monthly Operation Report - November 2010 Bankruptcy Court - Small Business Monthly Operation Report - December 2010
As I reviewed these reports, a few things stuck out as odd:
1. Michelle Cryer did not submit all the required "attachments" with the November and December reports;
2. The extraordinary amount of money spent at the gas stations each month;
3. A meal from Church's Fried Chicken was paid for by the animals' checkcard;
4. Workers bought cat food and office supplies from Walgreens; and
5. Blank entries on the November 2010 Monthly Expenses Paid Report for check numbers 1071 and 1072 in the amount of $1500 each.
Needless to say, this is not an all-inclusive list. This is just what I noticed at first glance. Now, let's take a look at each individual issue listed above, starting with the missing attachments:
Since a US Trustee has not been appointed yet (or so I have heard last week), I believe all attachments must be included in these monthly report. Now maybe the WAO was granted some sort of waiver not to produce all attachments, only the WAO's bankruptcy attorney would know for sure.
In any case, the December 2010 is missing the detailed expense report. Oversight? Is the WAO hiding questionable expenses?
I could not help but notice the high number of trips made to Valero, Shell, and other gas stations (with corner stores of course) despite having supposedly only two operating 350 trucks (as the rest of the WAO vehicles have expired tags). Where are these two vehicles going so often that it requires frequent gas refills several times within a week? Are the WAO vehicles used, once again, for the pleasure of the workers and remaining board director or are they used strickly for business?
I previously reported to the OAG that the WAO board directors/employees would often use WAO money to pay for items, other than gas, at various gas stations' corner stores. Items such as beer, cigarettes, coffee, food stuff, etc. were purchased with WAO money and not reimbursed. I also learned these same people were allowed to use WAO money to fill up their own gas tanks, claiming it was the cost to run "errands" for the WAO. So, instead of using WAO vehicles for official business, or submitting a trip reports when the employees used their own vehicles, employees would go to Walgreens (less than 1/4 mile from WAO); HEB grocery store (less than 2 miles from WAO); Lowes (less than 2 miles from WAO); Home Depot (less than 2 miles from WAO); and Walmart (less than 6 miles from the WAO) and then use the WAO's checkcard to pay for their gas.
I previously reported to the OAG that the WAO board directors/employees would often use WAO money to pay for items, other than gas, at various gas stations' corner stores. Items such as beer, cigarettes, coffee, food stuff, etc. were purchased with WAO money and not reimbursed. I also learned these same people were allowed to use WAO money to fill up their own gas tanks, claiming it was the cost to run "errands" for the WAO. So, instead of using WAO vehicles for official business, or submitting a trip reports when the employees used their own vehicles, employees would go to Walgreens (less than 1/4 mile from WAO); HEB grocery store (less than 2 miles from WAO); Lowes (less than 2 miles from WAO); Home Depot (less than 2 miles from WAO); and Walmart (less than 6 miles from the WAO) and then use the WAO's checkcard to pay for their gas.
To be fair, perhaps all this gas is for the welding equipment? In any case, now that the WAO animals were allegedly moved from the Leslie Road to Talley Road facility , perhaps the number of trips to the 1604 and Braun Road Valero and Shell stations will be reduced, starting January 2011? I doubt it.
So, this leads me to ask why was food from Church's Fried Chicken paid for by the WAO animals back in December 2010? Were the animals treated to a deep fried treat? Or did someone feel like he was entitled to a free lunch? Was this "free lunch" paid back to the WAO in a timely manner?
And what about the two withdraws made on the same day the tasty lunch was purchased from what appears to be an ATM Visa machine in the amounts of $182.50 and $2.00 (ATM fee?) and a gas purchase of $9.71. Very strange withdrawals/purchases made that day! Of course, there could be a logical reason why these purchases were made in December, but interesting enough, the December 2010 Expense Report was suspiciously missing from the organization's report, so I guess we'll never know unless the report is amended at some future date.
And what about the two withdraws made on the same day the tasty lunch was purchased from what appears to be an ATM Visa machine in the amounts of $182.50 and $2.00 (ATM fee?) and a gas purchase of $9.71. Very strange withdrawals/purchases made that day! Of course, there could be a logical reason why these purchases were made in December, but interesting enough, the December 2010 Expense Report was suspiciously missing from the organization's report, so I guess we'll never know unless the report is amended at some future date.
What's up with all the trips to Walgreens to buy cat food, dog food, and "office supplies?" I don't know about the Walgreens in your area, but I can tell you the Walgreens in San Antonio does not have a great line of pet products or office supplies. The prices for these items are very expensive at Walgreens as compared to our local Walmarts or HEB grocery stores. Clear examples of wasted money.
And finally can anyone tell me who cashed checks #1071 and 1072 made out to persons unknown in November 2010? Clearly, the checks were cashed on November 9 and November 10 (respectively), but according to the monthly expense report, the payee and reason for the checks both show "?." What kind of accounting is this? Whoever is preparing the expense reports needs to do more research as to where the money was spent before creating the monthly expense reports made available to the public. Attention to details is a must during the bankruptcy proceedings! This is just poor accounting.
Which leads me to wonder, is the WAO on a financial operating budget? If not, someone needs to get in there a work up an operating budget to ensure that there is no more wasteful spending at the WAO. This kind of shoty work is unacceptable and it just goes to show that some things never change at the WAO.
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