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The California State Controller’s Office is expanding the scope of its investigation into San Benito County’s internal financial control systems.
At a Feb. 10 meeting, County Counsel Gregory Priamos told the San Benito County Board of Supervisors the state began working in January,
Though its auditors have begun looking into the county’s internal controls, they will look deeper. He said he and County Executive Officer Esperanza Colio Warren had informed state officials about a past culture of “non-compliance with respect to contracts, procurement and purchasing.”
In response, auditors will look beyond the county’s internal controls to review all contracts from 2023 to 2025 to determine whether they align with county purchasing ordinances and policies.
“The state controller will provide the county with some very significant recommendations that, if implemented, will greatly improve our procurement, contracting, and purchasing policies,” Priamos said. The recommendations, he added, “will give us a road map to implement the needed reform to save and protect taxpayers’ money.”
The board unanimously approved the request for a state audit on Oct. 21, in the wake of two financial breaches. In 2023, two former library employees embezzled more than $360,000 from the San Benito County Free Library and were later convicted. Then, in October 2025, someone posing as a contractor convinced the county to transfer nearly $700,000. The county detected the fraud and the bank returned the money.
Colio Warren called the audit the “best thing” that could happen to the county. “It’s a different perspective, so that we can do business well and keep the county going.”
Priamos said there is no timeline for the audit’s completion. When finished, the state will provide a report with recommendations that the supervisors will discuss at a future meeting. Based on that report, the supervisors will develop an implementation plan, and quarterly status reports will be provided by staff to the board.
With the reforms in place, Priamos said, “we will not be the subject of embezzlement or of a phishing incident as we have been over the past several years.”
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