Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Former Erie County Deputy Clerk Alexander McDougall of Buffalo has been charged with second degree grand larceny after stealing more than $216,000 from the Erie County Clerk's office. This, after an audit was conducted between January 2021 and June of 2023.
But Erie County District Attorney John Flynn doesn't rule out that more stolen funds still could be uncovered.
"McDougall started working in the Erie County Clerk's office in 2019. We're now going back to 2019 and 2020," Flynn told WBEN.
He said he didn't want to wait for the results of those two years before he made an arrest.
"I decided I have enough right now. I might as well go ahead and arrest him now. I can still go back and add more to this before it goes to the grand jury."
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McDougall was suspended from his position in September and then fired.
Why did it take six months to bring charges?
"We had to go through all the records," Flynn explained. "We had to subpoena all of the deposit slips and all of the records that go through the Erie County Clerk's office. We had to get the bank records. We brought in the State Comptroller's office to not only look at the records, but to do an audit of this particular area where the clerk worked." Adding, "it takes time."
How could one person pull off a scheme this big? Flynn says it was simple.
"He had access to cash," he said. "The Clerk's office has more money going through there every day than pretty much any other entity within the county or state. Between the DMV and gun permits, and housing documents. The amount of dollars that flow through the office is a lot. Whenever people have access to cash, you have a potential for theft."