Fired St Louis DA’s appalling secret is revealed after crime soared during her woke tenure

The former St. Louis prosecutor took nursing classes during her taxpayer-funded work hours before she was fired due to rising crime.

Former prosecutor Kim Gardner, who was backed by progressive billionaire George Soros, spent 34.5 days attending classes at St. Louis University in Missouri more than two years instead of doing her public sector job.

That’s according to a state audit released Tuesday by State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick in a scathing 71-page report.

The investigation also found widespread staff turnover, misuse of public funds and a large drop in the number of cases filed, referred and closed before she stepped down in 2023.

Gardner resigned after Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey moved to remove her from office after she left too many cases, including murder cases, unpunished.

She told auditors she was in the process of obtaining a post-master’s certificate in primary care “to improve the office and bring mental health awareness” to the office.

Other issues mentioned in the audit include $58,000 spent on flowers, a DJ, car detailing, an office picnic, a chili cookout and her own legal fees.

Auditors also encountered problems obtaining information from her office while she was in charge.

The investigation by State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick, seen here, found widespread employee turnover, misuse of public funds and a large decline in the number of cases filed, referred and closed.

Employees refused or delayed auditors’ requests for two years until they were required to respond due to court subpoenas.

The audit found that “full access to documents, staff and the office itself was only given after the new government took over.”

It was determined that another $1.9 million had been used to pay for contracts for outside legal representation, new software, consultants and office equipment.

She told auditors that some of the purchases, which also included $5,180 on a bar and grill and $2,585 on pizza, would “boost morale,” the newspaper said. St. Louis Shipping.

Gardner, a Democrat, took office in 2017 and quickly faced accusations of running a dysfunctional office.

She was part of a movement of progressive prosecutors who turned to mental health or substance abuse services for low-level crimes.

Gardner vowed to hold police more accountable and sought to free incarcerated people who had been wrongly convicted.

The St. Louis law firm was drastically understaffed during Gardner’s leadership.

When she took office there were 60 lawyers, but when she left there were only about 30 left.

Under her watch, St. Louis murders seen here hit a 50-year high and the city saw fewer crimes prosecuted

The audit found that ‘full access to documents, staff and the office itself was only given after the new government took over’

In 2018, she sued former Governor Eric Greitens then a rising star in Republican politics, with a felony invasion of privacy charge accusing him of taking a compromising photo of a woman during an affair.

The charges were eventually dropped and Greitens would leave office in June 2018.

Investigation of the case led to the conviction of her investigator and Gardner received a written reprimand from the state Supreme Court.

That was related to the way her office handled documents in the case. It later emerged that she had used $5,004 to pay a fine related to the case.

In a statement, Fitzpatrick said, “On the same day that Kim Gardner should have been in a courtroom performing her duties as a prosecutor, she was instead sitting in a classroom earning her nursing degree.

“The judge said at the time that Gardner was the captain of a ‘rudderless ship of chaos’ and our report supports that claim by detailing how the prosecution’s performance significantly declined due to its neglect and mismanagement.

“Taxpayers should be outraged by the way this office was run into the ground by Gardner, while at the same time using taxpayer dollars to throw parties for her staff and to pay personal legal fees resulting from her own incompetence.”

One of the last cases Gardner oversaw was a Cinco de Mayo shooting, for which she declined to press charges against the suspected woman due to a “lack of evidence,” despite surveillance footage of the suspect wielding a gun.

According to Gardner’s office, the suspect – Amber Booker, 33 – was not charged due to a “lack of evidence” and because the victims did not cooperate with the investigation.

The Democrat-elected prosecutor won her seat in 2016 and was re-elected in 2020.

Gardner was backed by billionaire George Soros and received about $116,000 from Soros-backed PACS, his Vera Institute of Justice.

Under her watch, homicide rates in St. Louis reached a 50-year high and the city saw fewer and fewer crimes prosecuted.