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Lamb: Not Enough Checks, Balances In Tow Auctions

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Jan 6, 2009 9:08 pm US/Eastern

Lamb: Not Enough Checks, Balances In Tow Auctions

Reporting
Marty Griffin
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ― Investigators now believe it was easy to steal from city tow pound auto auctions.

You had one man running the auction, handling all of the paperwork and money.

That man was City Controller's office employee Michael Livingstone.

"The opportunity for this kind of scam has been in place for much longer than has been reported," City Controller Michael Lamb said.

Lamb is now convinced the problem when back much further than this summer when the latest allegations were reported.

Livingstone and five others are accused of rigging city tow pound auctions. According to police, Livingstone received payoffs. The other suspects got cars without paying full price.

Lamb believes checks and balances don't exist and that his employee was given too much control and took advantage of it.

"So now they become the situation where they're not only performing the sale and participating in the sale but they're also auditing the sale," Lamb said. "And that's where you have the opportunity for lack of control and for the wrongdoing that was done."

Meantime, Lamb is also aware of new witnesses who have come forward to talk about possible decades of abuse at the tow pound, including a witness who told us late last week she saw payoffs firsthand.

"I've seen it. I've seen it. And I just shook my head and walked away and everybody down there knew it. Everybody down there knew what they were doing. And they just – nobody would say anything," she said.

Lamb will meet with city administrators on Wednesday and ask that his people be removed from the process to restore trust.

"Because there was a void, we got in a position where our personnel was actually participating in the sale and that's not their job, so we've got to get away from that."

Police sources tell me they are convinced the fraud went on at the auction for years and years. However, I am also told they are having a difficult time getting to the point where they may arrest additional suspects in this case.

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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