ST. LOUIS — The Missouri Auditor’s Office wants to know where former St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner is.
The Missouri Auditor’s Office has been investigating Gardner’s office since 2021, when former Auditor Nicole Galloway launched the investigation. It's cost city taxpayers about $188,000 so far.
Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick took office in 2023 and served her with a subpoena, with which he says her office only partially complied.
On the day Fitzpatrick was going to go to court to force her to fully comply with his subpoena for documents, she resigned. He vowed then that her resignation did not mean he would end his probe into her administration.
Today, Fitzpatrick announced during a press conference that his final report has been delayed because his office hasn't been able to serve Gardner with a subpoena to compel her testimony for months. He added that his office has found evidence of "inappropriate expenditures" and "mismanagement," and he wants Gardner to answer questions about it.
But, he says, he will release his report with or without Gardner sometime before the end of the year.
"As I said when she abruptly resigned from office to avoid complying with a subpoena we were prepared to petition the court to enforce, Kim Gardner will be held accountable and we will do everything we can to make sure she answers for her time as Circuit Attorney," Fitzpatrick wrote. "Right now her location is unknown and all efforts to reach out to her have been unsuccessful.
“However, we will do everything we can to locate her and get the answers to our inquiries that only she can provide and that taxpayers deserve."
Fitzpatrick said his auditors have enough information to complete a report, but he believes Gardner should answer questions that can provide "additional clarity" about the decisions she made while serving as Circuit Attorney. Gardner began her term in St. Louis in 2017.
Fitzpatrick said his office has contacted Gardner's legal representation, made "repeated" daily calls to telephone numbers associated with Gardner, contacted close associates and former coworkers, and made “numerous” attempts to serve Gardner with a subpoena, all of which have been unsuccessful.
Gardner resigned abruptly in May 2023, as pressure was also mounting from a lawsuit Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey filed to get her removed from office for allegedly neglecting her duties as the city’s top prosecutor.
The I-Team exposed numerous cases in which Gardner’s administration failed to file proper documents or show up in court, causing judges to dismiss cases as well as a common practice of dropping charges on the day of a trial only to refile them and start the clock all over again on cases.
Judge Michael Noble filed a contempt charge against Gardner, which he later dropped following her resignation.
Gov. Mike Parson appointed Gabe Gore to replace Gardner. Gore took office June 1, 2023, and has given the auditor’s staff “full access to the office,” according to Fitzpatrick.
“Before Gore's time in office, staff from the state auditor's office were not allowed onsite during the audit process, but Gore implemented an open door policy with Fitzpatrick's audit team when he took over,” according to Fitzpatrick’s press release. “Under Kim Gardner, the St. Louis Circuit Attorney's Office also frequently ignored subpoenas and delayed the release of requested records.”
"This is a pattern of behavior with Kim Gardner, who hasn't shown a willingness to be transparent or accountable,” Fitzpatrick wrote. “Without question, she knows our audit is ongoing and that we want to speak with her about her time in office, but she has made no effort to comply with our requests or respond to our inquiries.
"I hope she will reconsider her decision to ignore the responsibility she has to cooperate with our audit process and come forward to provide answers to us and to the people of St. Louis."
Fitzpatrick is asking anyone who may have knowledge of Gardner’s whereabouts to contact the State Auditor's Whistleblower Hotline at 800-347-8597, by email at moaudit@auditor.mo.gov or by visiting www.auditor.mo.gov/hotline.