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State auditors believe Kane County's treasurer has been transferring county funds into her own personal bank account, according to an audit released Monday.

The Utah State Auditor's Office revealed in a report sent to county commissioners that they found evidence of 46 transfers — totaling $34,600 — from county bank accounts to treasurer Georgia Baca's personal bank account from March 2014 to January 2016.

In addition, auditors found that over $1,600 in county funds were used to pay 52-year-old Baca's cell phone bills. The audit noted that both discrepancies are considered "improper and illegal transfers."

The report also says more than $53,000 noted as deposits on the property tax account subledger were never deposited into the bank.

"The money, which was nearly all cash, remains unaccounted for," auditors wrote. "The treasurer had custody of the cash and was responsible for making the deposits; therefore, at the very least, we consider this improper oversight of county funds by the county treasurer. However, we believe there is a high likelihood the treasurer misappropriated these funds. Not only did she have access to the cash, but she had the ability to conceal the misappropriations."

Auditors also noted that it was troubling that there was evidence of money being shuffled between different county bank accounts with no supporting documents justifying the transfer, because those money transfers are often used to conceal misappropriations. They were also concerned about unsupported bank reconciliation adjustments and property tax account adjustments the treasurer's office made, as well as the more than $1 million in post voided receipts for transactions that were voided subsequent to the recording of the receipt and deposit of the tax payment and then recorded again to "correct" or modify the original receipt information.

There were also discrepancies between how much money in the form of cash and checks were recorded in the general ledger and what ended up being transferred into the bank accounts. Auditors noted that the treasurer may have taken the cash from a deposit and replaced it with a check related to an account that had been written off or adjusted in order to conceal the removal of cash.

Court records show Baca has not been charged with any criminal offenses related to an alleged misuse of public funds or embezzlement.

Kane County Attorney Rob Van Dyke said Monday that the allegations came to light about three to five weeks ago, and said that county officials asked the state auditors and the Utah Attorney General's Office to step in to avoid a conflict of interest. He said that while the auditors identified potential crimes going back about three years, he anticipates that investigators with the AG's office will go back further than that before deciding whether criminal charges are warranted.

The Southern Utah News reported that Baca — who was in her third term as treasurer — proffered a resignation letter prior to a Monday commission meeting. County commissioners did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.

Baca told The Southern Utah News in June 2014 that she had worked for the county for 25 years — five years in the clerk/auditor's office, 13 years in the recorder's officer and more than seven years as treasurer.

— Tribune reporter Jennifer Dobner contributed to this report.

Twitter: @jm_miller