BATON ROUGE - A recent audit of the Recreation and Park Commission for the Parish of East Baton Rouge (BREC), revealed a blatant act of theft that has yet to be solved as well as several discrepancies in record-keeping on the part of BREC, according to the Office of the Louisiana Legislative Auditor.

The Louisiana Legislative Auditor noted that an independent auditor conducted the analysis and recorded a case of misappropriation involving $7,600 in lawn equipment.

The auditor's report said that surveillance footage captured at least two individuals illegally entering a BREC maintenance shop and removing 25 pieces of lawn equipment.

The individuals have yet to be identified, according to the auditor, and though the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office investigated the incident, no charges were filed.

The auditor also found that BREC was neither reconciling its cash accounts on a monthly basis, nor regularly reviewing its collection clearing accounts.

In addition to these concerns, the auditor noted that BREC was not in compliance with the Local Government Budget Act.

One additional act of misappropriation was recorded in the report, and the auditor said BREC successfully identified the culprit and recovered the stolen funds. 

Click here to view the full report.