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Philadelphia Controller Giving Feds Results Of Sheriff's Office Audit

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Philadelphia city controller Alan Butkovitz says he's turned over to the US attorney for further review the results of a recently completed audit of the Philadelphia sheriff's office.

Butkovitz says a forensic audit conducted by an accounting firm hired by his office -- with the blessing and financial support of city officials -- uncovered evidence that former sheriff John Green allowed a political contributor and the contributor's consulting business to essentially take over the sheriff's real estate division.

"Basically, (he) let them take whatever they wanted to take, let them charge whatever they wanted to charge, let them have unsupervised access to millions of dollars," says Butkovitz, "and as a result, there are many people in Philadelphia who've lost their homes and lost everything who didn't have to."

And, Butkovitz says, the audit discovered that the now former director of the sheriff's real-estate division, Crystal Stewart, is the sister of the owner of that firm -- James Davies Jr., head of Reach Communications Specialists and RCS Searchers Inc.

Butkovitz refused to say whether he believed there is evidence of criminal activity, but noted this is the first time he has ever turned over an audit to federal authorities for further investigation.

Reported by Mark Abrams, KYW Newsradio 1060

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