morton, nancy | testimony transcript

Transcript of the Testimony of Nancy Morton

Date: November 14, 2013Volume: I

Case: In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation

Printed On: November 27, 2013

Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.Phone: 417-358-4078

Fax: 417-451-1114Email:[email protected]

Internet:

Nancy Morton In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation

417-358-4078Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.

Page 1

IN RE: JOPLIN CRITICAL INVESTIGATION

SWORN STATEMENT OF

NANCY MORTON

Taken on Thursday, November 14, 2013, from 2:04 p.m. to 2:29

p.m., at the law offices of Juddson H. McPherson, LLC, 626

S. Byers, in the City of Joplin, County of Jasper, State of

Missouri, before

SHARON K. ROGERS, C.C.R.650,

a Certified Court Reporter and a Notary Public within and

for the County of Jasper, and State of Missouri.



Page 2

APPEARANCES

MR. THOMAS E. LORAINE

Loraine & Associates, LLC

4075 Osage Beach Pkwy., Suite 300

Osage Beach, MO 65065

[email protected]



Page 3

S T I P U L A T I O N

IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED AND AGREED that this Sworn

Statement may be taken by steno-mask type recording by

SHARON K. ROGERS, a Certified Court Reporter, and

afterwards reduced into typewriting.

It is further stipulated that the signature of the

witness is hereby waived, and that said Sworn Statement of

said witness shall be of the same force and effect as

though said witness had read and signed Sworn Statement.



Page 4

I N D E X

Page/Line

DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. LORAINE . . . 5-4

E X H I B I T S

Exhibit #A. . . . . . . . 5-7

Advice of Rights

Note: Exhibits in separate binder

(sic) - typed as spoken

(ph.) - phonetic



Page 5

1 NANCY MORTON

2 Having been first duly sworn and examined,

3 testified as follows:

4 DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. LORAINE:

5 Q. May I call you Ms. Morton?

6 A. You may call me Ms. Morton.

7 Q. Ms. Morton, I have Exhibit #A which you have

8 signed for me, which is an Advice of Rights

9 form. As I briefly told you it's not

10 particular germane to you, but for any City

11 employee I can make them sign this, but in

12 any case you consented to do this and Exhibit

13 #A, does that have you signature on it?

14 A. It does.

15 Q. And thank you. You are under oath and the

16 reason we're doing that is this is an

17 official investigation. I've been appointed

18 by the City of Joplin and there are three

19 tasks. One is to look into Bill Scearce's

20 alleged gambling ring conspiracy matter, the

21 other one is to look into Mr. Woolston's

22 alleged, he's a real estate agent and he's

23 alleged to have used the influence of his

24 office perhaps against ethical matters, and

25 the third is that there was an item



Page 6

1 supposedly stolen off of Mr. Rohr's desk by

2 Bill Scearce and I have investigated that and

3 that's concluded and it's not true. So I've

4 got those three things to investigate. Now

5 I've been told that you want to talk to me,

6 and I don't know what it's about so I'm going

7 to ask you concerning those three things or

8 anything else that's particularly germane to

9 those three issues or to the City Manager who

10 is part of those three issues do you have

11 something to say?

12 A. I do, sir.

13 Q. Well, let's hear it.

14 A. I was the Office Manager for Bill Scearce

15 when he had the franchise, the Olsten

16 Staffing Services. I don't have the dates.

17 I'm sure other investigations have provided

18 the dates for when he did have that business.

19 But I have known Bill Scearce socially,

20 personally prior to being his Office Manager

21 probably for ten to fifteen years. He and I

22 go way, way back. I have a great deal of

23 respect for Bill, have had in the past. I am

24 very disappointed in what is going on at City

25 Hall at Council meetings that he is



Page 7

1 responsible for. I was contacted because I

2 know a lot of people in town and a lot of

3 people know me and knew I was his Office

4 Manager and when he repeatedly either avoided

5 interviews with the Joplin Globe or he lied I

6 was contacted by the Globe and asked if I

7 would comment. Well, I have known his

8 family, I've worked - we're all just - it's 9 very important to me not to be the one

10 blowing the whistle on him so I went to him

11 and I talked to him and he said, okay, it's

12 not against the law to lie to the Joplin

13 Globe, Nancy, ha, ha, ha. And I said, Bill,

14 this isn't really very funny. You need to

15 tell the truth. And before I left he told me

16 that he would tell the truth. Well, he has

17 issued another statement to the Globe and I

18 don't think it was - it's not that it was not

19 true, he just left a lot out. But I am not 20 familiar with what is ethical and what isn't

21 and as far as I'm concerned, this is just my 22 personal opinion, Bill worked hard, he earned

23 his money, he paid his taxes. Mr. Lovett had

24 two different locations at our offices. He

25 paid his rent. I know personally that Bill



Page 8

1 was not gambling because before he hired me

2 he and his wife and I sat down and he didn't

3 owe me an explanation, but he told me that he

4 felt like because we would be working with

5 local businesses and the confidentiality of

6 their payroll needs that he did not feel that

7 he should be betting any longer. And I think

8 that's very professional of him and it was

9 the right thing to go. But Mr. Lovett - Bill

10 was quoted in the Joplin Globe as saying his

11 employees were advised not to have anything

12 to do with Mr. Lovett. Kenny, we knew him.

13 When we first opened the office he was

14 located over in a car lot right next door to

15 our office and very frankly I didn't know he

16 was a bookie. I thought he was selling cars.

17 Well, then that car lot I believe got sold

18 and there was a little metal building

19 adjacent to our offices that Bill leased, 20 rented to him from month to month where

21 evidently he conducted his bookie business,

22 whatever that was. I thought it was rather

23 funny because it was a tool shed. But later

24 Bill built - our business was very, very

25 successful from day one.



Page 9

1 Q. Yours was some sort of an --

2 A. It's temporary staffing. Temporary staffing.

3 Q. Temporary staffing?

4 A. Yes, we had many clients in Joplin. And it

5 is, basically what it is is payroll. We ran

6 the payroll. But it wasn't personal, it was

7 not Mr. Scearce's personal payroll, that

8 money came from New York. He paid 55 percent

9 for that money.

10 Q. Who did?

11 A. Mr. Scearce did. Every month he would get

12 his commissions based on the hours that the

13 people had worked, but the payroll was paid

14 out of the Olsten office.

15 Q. That was some international link?

16 A. Right.

17 Q. You're not talking about any kind of bookie

18 money?

19 A. Absolutely not.

20 Q. You're talking about payroll money?

21 A. Yes.

22 Q. And he got paid out of New York?

23 A. Yes, he did.

24 Q. Okay. I'm with you.

25 A. He did very well from day one. We made a lot



Page 10

1 of money. But when we built the new offices

2 we needed more space. Well, the executive

3 offices on the north side of the building

4 Bill had a very large executive office and

5 down the hallway was an office for a sales

6 person and then an office for myself as

7 Office Manager, then we had an empty office.

8 And there was a door right there. Well, Kenny

9 was invited to move into that and he did his

10 business there. I lived in a condominium

11 catty corner so I was there often evenings

12 because of course when the phones are ringing

13 you don't get any work done. And all the

14 time that I'm aware of it the only people

15 that ever came by to visit Kenny - I mean you

16 didn't see people coming in and out, it was

17 just like his friends, you know, friends 18 would just come by and have a cigarette with 19 him, because I could hear them. But as far

20 as Bill gambling, no, that didn't happen. It

21 didn't happen. I don't know why he doesn't

22 just tell the whole story.23 Q. What is the whole story that you're --

24 A. I mean that whole story is he said that he

25 was out in a little shed, when in fact, he



Page 11

1 was in these palatial offices.

2 Q. He was in a shed at one time --

3 A. Yeah.

4 Q. -- and then moved into the office?

5 A. Yeah, then he had his own personal office.

6 Q. And it had a separate entrance?

7 A. It had a separate entrance. And that's where

8 I parked my car and that's where I came in

9 and out.

10 Q. Did you know Mr. Lovett when he was with you?

11 A. By then, yes, I knew he was a bookie.

12 Q. And Bill knew he was a bookie?

13 A. Bill has always known he was a bookie.

14 Q. When he first started renting him the little

15 tool shed are you telling me that Bill knew

16 he was a bookie at the first rent time?

17 A. Yes.

18 Q. So you dispute that he did not know at first?

19 A. Yes.

20 Q. And Bill has admitted as I understand in the

21 paper that he knew he was a bookie

22 subsequent, but not at first. That's what

23 you're telling me is wrong?

24 A. (Nodding head)

25 Q. That was a yes?



Page 12

1 A. Yes. I'm sorry.

2 Q. Sometimes our record doesn't get that.

3 A. Yes, it's hard - a nod is not - yes, he was

4 aware. Because for five to seven years --

5 Q. Did he ever get - go ahead.

6 A. Well, I just wanted to give you a little more 7 background because I told you that I knew he

8 and Penny socially before I went to work for

9 him. When he owned Shank's, which was an

10 Army/Navy surplus store it was the 5:00

11 o'clock - at 5:00 o'clock we all met at a bar

12 and had a drink and it was at the Kitchen

13 Pass at that time and there was a lot of

14 betting going on there. We all know Kenny

15 Lovett. I mean he's a nice man. It's just 16 unfortunate.

17 Q. Let me ask you this question. Is there

18 anything else concerning --

19 A. No.

20 Q. So that's it?

21 A. Yes.

22 Q. So you're just taking issue with that one 23 point, that he didn't know him it first?

24 A. He's always known he was a bookie.

25 Q. Even before because of the prior --



Page 13

1 A. Yes, the social relation.

2 Q. Let's talk about for a minute, do you have

3 any knowledge or belief that Bill ever

4 involved himself in the gambling itself?

5 A. No, I don't believe he did.

6 Q. Do you know if he ever received money other

7 than the rent?

8 A. No, sir, there would be no reason. I mean

9 I've heard from other people that he got into

10 some type of financial situation. This was

11 after I had left and opened my own office,

12 Olsten office in Arkansas. When I worked for

13 him the money was literally flowing in, and I

14 know because the way his family works --

15 Q. You're talking about Bill Scearce?

16 A. Bill, yes, the way his family works, their

17 family trust, his wife is from a very wealthy

18 family, that their taxes, I mean all of that

19 is above board and it's done right. And

20 today Penny's father is still alive, but I

21 will tell you that Mr. Leffen, and that is

22 Bill's father-in-law, I mean he just made 23 sure everything was done the way it was

24 supposed to be done.

25 Q. So Bill Scearce is above board on everything



Page 14

1 except the one issue that he knew Mr. Lovett

2 was a bookie before he rented that tool shed

3 to him?

4 A. That's exactly right.

5 Q. That's the only issue?

6 A. That's the only issue.

7 Q. Now who has asked you to come in to talk to

8 me?

9 A. I had talked to several of the Councilmen

10 because everyone was urging me. Mike

11 Seibert, Mike Woolston, Morris Glaze were

12 just encouraging me to tell what I knew. 13 Well, rather than tell what I know to the

14 Globe I just went to Bill and I said, you 15 know, you need to step up and do the right

16 thing. I was with him for two hours. Well,

17 subsequently after he admitted that, yeah,

18 he'd lied a little bit - and of course like I

19 said I had no idea if any of this is even

20 unethical. If the FBI found anything illegal

21 he would have been charged.

22 Q. Exactly.

23 A. So this is just going to the ethics of it. 24 Is it unethical for him to - he's decided

25 that he's entrenching himself and he is going



Page 15

1 to stick this out, but --

2 Q. Do you feel that the fact that he lied to the

3 Globe that he didn't know he was a bookie

4 ahead of time, are you telling me that you

5 believe there's something unethical about

6 that?

7 A. I don't know.

8 Q. And that's what Bill told you, it wasn't

9 illegal to lie to the Globe?

10 A. Which as a joke, you know, I mean like ha, 11 ha. He was trying to make light of it. He

12 was so nervous, you know. It was like we're

13 friends, Bill, I'm not here for any reason

14 except I want to talk to you, the Globe wants

15 to talk to me.

16 Q. Who was it at the Globe that wanted to talk

17 to you?

18 A. Carol Stark and Debbie Woodin. And I have

19 talked to them. We have stayed in contact

20 through this whole thing and finally Debbie

21 said that it was the consensus of the Globe

22 that so many people in this town know about

23 the bookie operation that they did not feel

24 like they needed to use me for a quote

25 regarding that because there's too many other



Page 16

1 people out there and that would not be fair

2 to me. And I appreciate that. I'm chair of

3 the Historic Preservation Commission, I'm

4 chair of the Design Review, I'm on several

5 committees, volunteer committees. Everything

6 I do is volunteer now. But that's important

7 to me and I don't want to - I mean I love

8 Penny, his wife. We grew up together. I'm

9 sorry this mess has happened. Bill needs to

10 own up to it. If he's done something

11 unethical he needs to step down.

12 Q. That's where I'm at. What is unethical? Who

13 has told you something he has done is

14 unethical is where I'm at?

15 A. Nobody has told me anything. The only

16 comment that was made to me by Mike Seibert,

17 and I've known Mike for a long time because

18 he is a pharmaceutical manager and he

19 inherited, so to speak, my father's

20 territory, so I've known Mike for years and

21 years. But Mike made the statement to me

22 when we were talking about it that he felt

23 like it went against his character that he

24 even would consider having a bookie in his

25 office. Well, at that point in time I have



Page 17

1 to say everybody has their own opinion, but

2 is that unethical? I don't know. And it's

3 my business as a citizen, but more

4 importantly we need to get this mess taken

5 care of. We have so much work to do.

6 Q. Have you talked with Mr. Rohr about this?

7 A. Yes.

8 Q. What's Mr. Rohr told you?

9 A. He knows through Ron Richard and myself.

10 Ronnie and I are very good friends, too.

11 Q. Tell me who Ron Richard is.

12 A. Ron Richard is a senator from Joplin. He's

13 in Jefferson City. He and Bill used to be

14 really good friends. I spend a lot of time

15 with Ron. I'm very involved in politics. We

16 just have kind of bandied around the fact 17 that what is going on with Bill because this

18 is not the Bill that we used to know.

19 Q. Mr. Rohr's first name is Mark?

20 A. Mark.

21 Q. So you have talked with Mark Rohr about

22 Bill's gambling issue?

23 A. No, I see Mark enough that we talk about a

24 lot of things because we're on --

25 Q. You're on boards with Mark Rohr?



Page 18

1 A. Yes, and I go up to the Council meetings, and

2 it's like after Council meetings where Bill -

3 I'm sorry, I know this is on the record - but

4 when he has shown his ass.

5 Q. Bill?

6 A. Scearce. And if the Mayor would use Roberts

7 Rules of Order we would not have all of this

8 going on up on the dais. But she doesn't and

9 these men, they just - they embarrass 10 themselves and they embarrass the citizens.

11 I'm sorry. So I'll say something.

12 Q. When you say somebody you're talking about

13 all the Council members?

14 A. I'm talking about Benji Rosenberg, I'm 15 talking about Bill Scearce. I sit on boards

16 that if people were to speak to somebody else

17 in the manner that they speak they would be

18 excused from the meeting until they could get

19 it together. There is yelling. And Bill

20 told me this, Bill Scearce told me this, I

21 said, Bill, how can we fix this? What do you

22 want? He says I want him gone.

23 Q. Who is him?

24 A. Mark. And I said why? And he said I don't

25 like the way he does business. And I said,



Page 19

1 Bill, you're one of nine people. He is very

2 - I don't know if you've met Bill yet, but he

3 is just very adamant. I will tell you that 4 he has family history of Alzheimer's and some

5 of the things that I have witnessed I'm

6 thinking, Bill, you're losing it. Because

7 his dad used to come to our office and we

8 would be responsible for Mr. Scearce.

9 Q. These people that are elected officials, have

10 you considered running for any of them?

11 A. I have. In fact, I was asked to run for

12 office. But what happens - is your name John

13 again?

14 Q. Tom.

15 A. Tom. What happens, Tom, is that when you run

16 for office and if you are successful you no

17 longer can sit on your boards. Historic

18 Preservation is very, very important to me.

19 I have talked to other people on the

20 commission and the City liaison and that job 21 to me is more important than being on the

22 Council.

23 Q. Who appoints you to that job?24 A. The Council.

25 Q. The Council as all of them?



Page 20

1 A. Yes, they vote.

2 Q. Is Mark Rohr on that board with you?

3 A. He is on the Design Review Board.

4 Q. Oh, yes, the Design, okay. Is Historic

5 Preservation part of the Design Review Board?

6 A. No, actually the Design Review Board falls

7 under us because under our ordinance there is

8 no such thing as a Design Review Board. It's

9 a quasi board that's been kind of put

10 together.

11 Q. And that's just Mark and --12 A. It's Mark. We have a representative from the

13 Downtown Joplin Association, we have

14 representatives, we have two property owners,

15 we have City liaison. We have a really good

16 cross section of people and it's mostly to

17 supervise what's going on in our City.

18 Q. That's an unpaid board?

19 A. Yes.

20 Q. Appointed by the City?

21 A. Right, it's just to supervise what's being 22 done in our historic commercial district.

23 Does that help you?

24 Q. Yes.

25 A. It works with the Historic Preservation



Page 21

1 Commission so that we're all working together

2 with the property owners to enforce

3 standards.

4 Q. Did you have a conversation with Carol Stark

5 about this issue?

6 A. No.

7 Q. Has she talked to you recently?

8 A. No.

9 Q. Has Mark talked with you about it recently?

10 A. No.

11 Q. Has Bill talked with you other than that

12 about this issue?

13 A. No.

14 Q. No one really has?

15 A. No, Debbie Woodin is the only one because

16 when this suggestion of hiring an

17 investigator, it's like, well, it's done now,

18 Nancy. And I also see Debbie at City Council

19 meetings. I go to City Council meetings a

20 lot. I go to the pre-meetings, the planning

21 meetings, but I've just gotten so disgusted.22 Q. The three people that are on the Council that

23 have talked with you about being here are

24 whom again?

25 A. About coming to see you?



Page 22

1 Q. Yes.

2 A. Was just Mike Seibert. He called me.3 Q. I haven't talked to Mr. Seibert yet. I think

4 he's scheduled for today, in fact, so I'll be

5 talking to him. And I'll be talking to

6 Morris Glaze. You also mentioned him.

7 A. Well, I did talk to him because Mike wanted

8 me to talk to Morris about what I knew as an

9 employee of Bill's.

10 Q. Okay. Now you said obviously Bill was not

11 indicted?

12 A. Right.

13 Q. And it's an old matter. So from your

14 standpoint what you're saying --

15 A. I was shocked. It's like this was - you

16 know, the three guys are doing their time.

17 And I remember reading what Bill had to say

18 because they interviewed, the FBI interviewed

19 him, and some of that was published in the

20 Globe. I remember all of that and it's like

21 why is this coming out now?

22 Q. So other than really Mike Seibert and Morris

23 Glaze suggesting that you come you're here to

24 point out that Bill has lied about knowing --

25 A. That's it.



Page 23

1 Q. That's it really.

2 A. He has lied about Lovett.

3 Q. Okay.

4 A. Is that unethical?

5 Q. Well, that's the question, I guess that's the

6 ultimate question that I have to view and I

7 mean it certainly didn't occur while he was

8 on the Council. I guess being asked, I don't

9 know if being asked by the Globe has any

10 impact. I don't know. I don't think he had

11 even talked with the Globe, but in any case I

12 don't know. That's one of the issues I'm

13 looking at. As I told you we started at

14 three issues. Now do you know anything about

15 Mr. Woolston and using his --

16 A. No, I don't really. I don't know.

17 Q. Nothing about that?

18 A. No. And the note, I don't even understand.

19 I mean I would understand if someone went in

20 there and stole it off of Mark's desk.

21 Q. That's what Mark was saying.

22 A. I mean he is such a professional.

23 Q. Who?

24 A. Mark. He is totally professional and I think

25 it just has gotten to the point where he just



Page 24

1 has taken it and taken it and taken it and he

2 finally said, gentlemen, I'm not taking it

3 anymore. And I respect him for that. And

4 whatever it is, if it's the note, if that's

5 going to be the ball breaker, you know, good.

6 I don't know anything about it.

7 Q. Well, I know all about it.

8 A. Well, good. Well, Scearce, I'm at his office

9 and he's like, oh, there's a big story behind

10 that and I'm like, Bill, I don't care. I

11 care that you need to get this truth out.

12 That's what I care about.

13 Q. I appreciate you coming in here and swearing

14 under oath and talking with me, and I'm sorry

15 to have been running behind schedule.

16 A. That's all right. I'm used to attorneys

17 running behind. You do your best work.

18 Q. Whatever. Thank you very much for coming by.

19 A. You're very welcome.

20

21 (SWORN STATEMENT CONCLUDED)

22

23

24



Page 25

REPORTER'S CERTIFICATE

STATE OF MISSOURI

ss.

COUNTY OF JASPER

I, SHARON K. ROGERS, Certified Court Reporter in the

State of Missouri, do certify that pursuant to the

foregoing Stipulation the witness came before me on the

14th day of November, 2013, was duly sworn by me, and was

examined. That examination was then taken by me by

steno-mask recording and afterwards transcribed; said Sworn

Statement is subscribed by the witness as hereinbefore set

out on the day in that behalf aforesaid and is herewith

returned.

I further certify that I am not counsel, attorney, or

relative of either party, or clerk, or stenographer of

either party or of the attorney of either party, or

otherwise interested in the event of this suit.

_________________________

SHARON K. ROGERS, CCR-650

morton, nancy | testimony transcript

Documents

holliday reporting service

city of joplin

item nancy morton

phoneticnancy morton

nancy morton2

sworn statement

statement of nancy mortontaken

t i o n