JOSH DAVIS/BAYSIDE GAZETTE
Ocean Pines Association President Doug Parks provides a forensic audit update during a public meeting last Saturday.

By Josh Davis, Associate Editor

(Feb. 14, 2019) The only recent news on the forensic audit of Ocean Pines finances ordered last spring is that the effort continues and apparently involves the Bank of Ocean City.

The Ocean Pines Board hired Gross, Mendelsohn & Associates last April to perform the audit and work officially began a month or so later.

Finance Director Steve Phillips in August said auditors were looking into about $26,000 in deposits that allegedly went missing during the summer of 2017.

Last July, Phillips said, auditors met with a detective from the Worcester County Bureau of Investigations.

Since that time, Phillips said, “the work has really shifted to the [Worcester County Bureau of Investigations], working with that detective to actually try to gain some information from … Bank of Ocean City and work with them to understand what type of records they have and what we can get access to, as well as interviewing their chief security officer, as well as their CEO and president.”

Ocean Pines Association President Doug Parks provided the first public update in several months during a budget work session last Saturday.

According the Parks, the Worcester County Bureau of Investigations detective assigned to the case, Mark Titanski, received a promotion and another detective had to be assigned, which caused a delay.

“As my fellow board members know, I’m somewhat impatient when it comes to certain commitments,” Parks said. “I had written Det. Titanski back on Jan. 9 because Jim Kern, a who is the auditor with Gross, Mendelsohn, had been trying to get in touch with him.”

Parks added, “He’s got to go out and, one of the other tasks was to interview some more folks from the Bank of Ocean City.”

According to Parks, Titanski eventually replied that he contacted the new detective assigned to the case and was told, “on Monday, we’ll arrange that meeting with Jim Kern from Gross, Mendelsohn.”

“The process is ongoing. It’s been a little bit [of a] stall in the field, but … it’s moving forward and that’s all I can say right now,” Parks said.

Parks, in an email Monday night, added, “There has been significant progress by the auditors in the review and analysis of our financial records.”

“In order for the case to proceed, there is still some coordination required between WCBI and the auditors,” he said. “I am fully confident additional progress will be made over the next several weeks and look forward to having the audit firm and WCBI bring the case to closure.”

The Ocean Pines Board in October approved phase two of the forensic audit, which is believed to focus on public works. Phase one focused “on the operations of the Food and Beverage Department,” according to an association press release.

The most recent audit report made public by Ocean Pines, in December, listed the following:

• Testing performed on selected expenditures during the year ended April 30, 2018 based on purchase orders that originated in the Public Works department
• Testing performed on Public Works department payroll transactions for selected pay periods during the years ended April 30, 2017 and 2018
• Review of invoices and disbursement data on certain vendors used by the Public Works department

For a full list of official updates on the forensic audit, visit www.oceanpines.org/forms-docs-cat/audits.