The Oregon Department of Justice will handle a criminal investigation into possible wrongdoing by the former executive director of the Madras Aquatic Center Recreation District.

Jefferson County District Attorney Steve Leriche said he asked the state to take over the investigation into Joe McHaney, who was fired in June, because of two conflicts of interest with the Madras Police Department. Sgt. Steve Webb, the district attorney’s investigator, is a member of the recreation district board who participated in the decision to fire McHaney, and McHaney’s mother is the police department’s office manager, he said.

“Between those two things, it was too much of a conflict or at least an appearance of a conflict,” Leriche said.

The investigation will also likely involve forensic accounting and forensic computing, which the state agency is better equipped to handle than the local police, he said. The recreation district board has refused to explain why it placed McHaney on paid administrative leave in April and ultimately fired him, but McHaney’s attorney, David Allen, previously told The Bulletin the board was investigating voided cash transactions totaling about $7,000. Allen did not immediately return a phone call Monday.

Leriche said he had the recreation district ship its investigation files directly to the Department of Justice and he hasn’t seen any of them.

“When I heard about it, I knew for certain that I was going to make sure an investigation happened,” Leriche said. “It’s taxpayer money, and if it goes missing, it needs to be accounted for.”

McHaney maintained his innocence in his separation agreement with the recreation district board. His attorney argued that the board never completed an audit, meaning it was unable to verify whether any money went missing.

—  Reporter: 541-633-2160; jshumway@bendbulletin.com