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It was stated by Mayor Bill Collins at last nights council committee meeting that there is no smoking gun authorizing a mandatory forensic IT audit of Marions system, claiming on the record: “I guess there hasn’t been a smoking gun type case presented yet that says we absolutely need to have that done.”
Collins went on to state what is “in New World right now will remain there just because we’re going to stop using it. Everything will be locked down. It will be held because there’s always been some questions about things that might have happened 10 years ago. you know, did somebody do something”.
This statement was contradicted by Aaron Rollins who claimed “So, what one of the things that I think is important to know is that when we transition to the new software, we’re going to archive the last 2 to 3 years”.
It was also stated that the cost was too significant and that the city cannot afford it because of the current fiscal emergency which was, by the way, largely caused by these known system issues now being exposed.
We agree, there is no single smoking gun.
There is a line of smoking cannons.
It is blatantly obvious to qualified information technology, financial, legal, and other professionals across multiple states who compiled the Silent Sabotage series alongside Marion Watch.
Marion Watch has been officially looking at this software since 2018, first publishing in 2019. We are more than happy that this software is being replaced, but it must be done correctly.
The forensic signs of a compromised system are more than obvious.
Yet senior Marion officials, who initially said they agreed, have turned coats now claiming there is nothing to see here and no reason to take action immediately.
State and federal laws say otherwise, as do globally recognized IT practices most have been present and unchanged since multi user interfaces were created in the Vietnam era.
There is a long history of putting forensic IT audits on hold for concealment purposes.
Included in the long list of possible violations of state and federal law in Marion are years of wide open General Ledger Override misconfigurations.
At the top of that list is none other than the Marion City Police Department, over budget by $1,240,000 in the most recent audit.
So what is really going on here.
All the signs of a compromised system are and have been present, yet the excuses to investigate properly have been dismissed by Mayor Collins, who is the former Chief of Police.
The citizenry has been messaging Marion Watch relentlessly. We received over 600 messages and emails in less than 24 hours, and the questions are reasonable and focused on why a former law enforcement official would downplay such a blatant and serious situation.
They are also asking why the state or federal government has not stepped up. IT Oversight Committee Chairman Ralph Smith stated: “I have pushed for a forensic audit for many months now. What I was hoping to happen was that with the fiscal emergency somebody would step up and say these people need a forensic audit. That has not happened yet.”
Our friends, such as the Swamp Fox, whose expertise includes decades in the financial sector, are also very curious. Especially since, according to Marion officials and hints in Marion City Council summaries, staff within the Ohio Auditor of State office have known about system issues since installation or shortly after.
The citizens who have been paying attention can see the issues, those with no technical background whatsoever have cross researched our reporting and understand it clearly.
We encourage Marion City Council, the Marion County Prosecutors Office, the Marion County Sheriffs Department, citizens, and any state level officials or candidates who may see this to escalate immediately.
The New World ERP system is compromised by definition.
There are blatant conflicts of interest.
There is an excessively well documented study published on our platform in accordance with information technology and financial laws and controls with nearly all of our data published for the world to see.
It is extensive, but it had to be.
Unfortunately, we had to prepare for this day and hope it did not happen.
Surely the Auditor of State knows something is very wrong.
We have contacted them.
Surely they understand that password sharing, unused modules, unimpeded administrative access, physical security violations to the server room, and a long list of other issues are more than enough justification for the forensic IT audit.
The city has suffered untold damages, and without the forensic IT audit, what happened will forever be unknown, and accountability will not be realized.
Many people knew about this, while we know who some are, we are not entirely sure exactly who else knew.
But we do not think anyone on the current Marion City Council did.
With the mayor leading the charge, leading the council to believe there are no options, stating that a forensic IT audit is too expensive or insisting that everything is fine as long as the spreadsheets appear to balance, and the AOS is in house, we want citizens to know that history tells a very different story.
Yes, we have known this since we began reporting again in late 2024, and we have much more, but wanted to afford the honor of dealing with the situation to senior administration.
Unfortunately, this method has failed.
Over the last 20 years, numerous cities faced collapsed internal controls, hidden accounts, and broken software ledgers. In nearly every case, officials initially stonewalled, delayed public records, or claimed outside reviews were unnecessary.
The turning point always came when other local officials refused to accept the excuses and escalated the matter to state and federal authorities.
Because these issues were escalated as criminal probes rather than private consulting contracts, investigating agencies absorbed the massive forensic costs and used their own taxpayer funded budgets to recover millions.
This is not a smoking gun.
It is a line of smoking cannon.
CASE STUDIES OF ESCALATION
VILLAGE OF MOUNT STERLING OHIO
THE RESISTANCE
• Officials attempted to hide the financial chaos.
• The former mayor’s computer hard drive was wiped completely clean.
• Several tablets and computers went missing entirely.
WHO ESCALATED IT
• A newly elected administration ordered a local audit.
• When the wiped computers were discovered, the Madison County Prosecutor and Sheriff escalated the case to the Ohio Auditor of State Special Investigations Unit and the Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
THE BURDEN SHIFT AND OUTCOME
• The state deployed digital and financial investigators at state expense.
• A Finding for Recovery was issued against former administrator Joe Johnson.
• Judge Eamon Costello sentenced Johnson to 10 years in prison.
• Johnson was ordered to pay $724,239 in restitution plus up to $43,460 in audit costs.
DIXON ILLINOIS
THE RESISTANCE
• The city comptroller held absolute unchecked control over the accounting software for decades.
• She covered unexplained budget shortfalls by claiming the State was late in paying tax revenues.
WHO ESCALATED IT
• While the comptroller was on vacation, an acting city clerk discovered a secret account.
• The clerk alerted Mayor Jim Burke.
• The mayor bypassed local reviews entirely and took the evidence straight to the FBI.
THE BURDEN SHIFT AND OUTCOME
• Federal forensic experts seized city computers and rebuilt years of manipulated ledgers at no cost to the city.
• They uncovered a $53,700,000 embezzlement scheme.
• The United States Marshals seized and auctioned the comptrollers assets, returning roughly $10,000,000 to the city.
• The city sued negligent external auditors and the bank, recovering a $40,000,000 civil settlement.
CITY OF BELL CALIFORNIA
THE RESISTANCE
• City administrators quietly orchestrated massive, unauthorized pay raises.
• When journalists requested records, the city stonewalled and blamed an outdated recordkeeping system.
WHO ESCALATED IT
• A County Supervisor intervened and ordered a comprehensive audit.
• She paid for it out of her discretionary fund so the city could not use cost as an excuse.
• This forced the California State Controller and the Los Angeles County District Attorney Public Integrity Unit to launch a full investigation.
THE BURDEN SHIFT AND OUTCOME
• The State Controller performed the in depth audits needed to untangle the mess.
• Law enforcement seized servers and reconstructed hidden ledger adjustments.
• Seven city officials were indicted and sentenced to prison.
THE BIG TAKEAWAY FOR MARION
A financial collapse is only permanent if elected officials choose to look the other way.
Marion is suffering from the exact same systemic breakdowns.
These failures were openly validated again at the August 17 2026 City Council Committee meeting.
Mayor Collins admitted the city had been paying New World $154,000 a year for roughly 40 modules.
After auditing those modules, the city dropped approximately 28 of them, reducing the invoice to $74,900.
It was previously reported by Marion Watch that roughly 80 percent of the modules were unused.
Mayor Collins also stated: “I do not see any possibility of recovering those costs.”
This poses a serious possibility of inappropriate use of taxpayer funds totaling millions.
THE NEW WORLD SYSTEM FAILURES
• DISABLED CONTROLS
An estimated 80 percent of safety, operational, and reconciliation modules were disabled or unused. Marion paid over $150,000 a year for controls that were never turned on.
• FORCED MATH
Staff relied on undocumented manual workarounds to force broken hybrid cash accrual ledgers to balance.
• UNIMPEDED ADMINISTRATIVE ACCESS
Financial officers held master IT keys, acting as their own IT administrators and bypassing internal controls.
• UNRESTRICTED GL OVERRIDES
General Ledger override permissions were wide open across departments until October 2025.
• ORPHANED ACCOUNTS
Former employees retained full administrative access long after leaving office.
• SECURITY BREACHES
Password sharing was rampant. Physical access to server rooms was compromised.
• VENDOR BACKDOORS
Staff bypassed IT protocols and contacted vendors directly to change system settings and permissions.
• STONEWALLING
Public records requests for permissions and logs were denied for more than 7 months.
• DESTROYING THE CRIME SCENE
The administration plans to archive only 2 to 3 years of New World data, destroying 12 to 15 years of digital evidence.
POSSIBLE ILLEGALITIES
Under Ohio Revised Code 5705.39, spending above appropriations may constitute a possible illegality.
Under state IT governance standards, knowingly operating a compromised financial system may constitute a possible illegality.
The most recent Ohio Auditor of State audit shows:
• Police Department over budget by $1,240,000
• Fire Department over budget by $890,000
• Public Works over budget by $510,000
• Auditors Office over budget by $310,000
• Other departments collectively over budget by $600,000
These over budget conditions occurred during the same period when:
• Appropriation controls were disabled
• GL override permissions were wide open
• Modules were turned off
• Internal controls collapsed
• Orphaned accounts remained active
• Password sharing was rampant
• Workarounds were concealed
• Server room access was compromised
• Uncashed checks were found
• Inappropriate email access was discovered
• Vendor backdoor changes bypassed accepted IT practices
SMOKING LINE OF CANNONS
The failures are documented.
The costs are documented.
The module waste is documented.
The override permissions are documented.
The orphaned accounts are documented.
The stonewalling is documented.
The planned destruction of historical data is documented.
The over budget amounts are documented.
The forensic trail is documented.
The installation era failures are documented.
The example forensic audits are documented.
The dates are documented.
The possible illegalities are documented.
If this is not justified, then what exactly is.
We at Marion Watch and our entire network are at a loss.
There is more than enough justification for immediate law enforcement involvement.
A system transition can occur alongside the forensic IT audit to ensure the data is not compromised. This is standard industry practice.
It is a line of smoking cannons obvious to anyone qualified in finance, law, and information technology.
WHAT IS REALLY GOING ON HERE?