ALEXANDER, Ark.—A bank account holding about $50,000 in spending money for disabled Arkansans living at a state residential center has been mismanaged, apparently as far back as 2003, a state spokeswoman says.

The account for residents of the Alexander Human Development Center came under scrutiny in February when a new business manager took over, Department of Human Services spokeswoman Julie Munsell told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

“It’s entirely possible that the transactions were very appropriate, but because the documentation was so poor, we can’t determine that either,” Munsell said. “It was just very poor management.”

A six-page report on the DHS investigation does not allege that any employees stole money, the newspaper reported Saturday. Munsell said one business office employee has been transferred to another department, pending the outcome of the investigation.

DHS has asked the Legislative Audit Division for help and that office is nearly finished a report, which will be presented to the Legislative Joint Auditing Committee, Deputy Legislative Auditor Charles Fiser said.

Arkansas State Police also are investigating, according to Capt. Henry LaMar. He would not comment further.

In an unrelated development, Mark Stitch, the center superintendent, was suspended for 10 days — from Aug. 26 through Monday — for failing to follow procedures to place employees on leave after suspected maltreatment of a resident, Munsell said.

Stitch was not the employee suspected of maltreatment, Munsell said, adding that the alleged incident was not a serious case of abuse. Munsell said she could not comment further because of confidentiality laws.

The center is one of six in Arkansas, operated by the state Developmental Disabilities Services Division, which is part of DHS. The center’s business office handles money for the 115 men who live at the Alexander center because they are mentally disabled and cannot care for themselves. Their money comes from Social Security income, relatives, and income from jobs such as stuffing envelopes.

There is only one account for all of the residents, but ledgers detailing deposits, withdrawals and expenditures are supposed to be kept on each one. When the residents want some of their money, an employee is supposed to fill out a form at the business office to get the cash. At any given time, Munsell said, there is about $40,000 or $50,000 in the account.

The residents use the money “to go to a baseball game or buy a pizza or go to Wal-Mart,” Munsell said, adding that it is not used for their medical care.

If a resident has any money left over after an outing or a trip to the store, the employee is supposed to turn that in to the business office along with a receipt that shows how the money was spent.

“Best we can tell, that did not happen in this case,” Munsell said. “There are missing receipts; there are missing deposit slips. There is lots of information, documentation missing.”