ALDEN – The Mesa Highway Patrol is currently under federal investigation for major corruption charges after Lewis Donaldson, the agency’s commisioner was revealed to be syphoning money from the MHP’s operation budget. According to a federal criminal complaint filed in Federal Court early this afternoon, the agency’s chief took well over 2.6 million dollars and put it in undisclosed and unreported agency financial accounts.

The agency first came under State Review Board spotlight after discrepancies with state funding after 2.6 million dollars came under review. Donaldson told investigators that a misfiling of records was the cause and the Review Board excepted that as the reason for the missing filing. However, command staff reported that the money had been missing after being taken out of the operation budget. Several troopers and staffers were fired after the complaint was filed, according to internal records.

“This is an extreme abuse of public funding and public trust,” said Governor Joshua Adamson. “I am still working with Federal authorities to determine the cause of the missing funding and why Commissioner Donaldson failed to report the missing funding right away and where that money went. As Governor, I will not make an executive action until an outside investigation is completed by our federal partners. We will get to the bottom of this.”

According to federal investigators, Donaldson had failed to report the funding move in internal records and documents as well as reporting it to Mesa’s Public Trust And Transparency Agency as well as the Department Of Taxation. Donaldson is currently still serving in his role and could potentially face criminal charges if he is found guilty of any wrongdoing.

“This agency continues to be as transparent as possible and continues to follow all funding transfer protocols and state reporting guidelines,” said Commissioner Lewis Donaldson. “There is no issues with the funding being transferred. All protocols where followed.”

Donaldson as served since 2022 as the State’s MHP commissioner and has been the discussion of several other funding concerns and investigations, all which found him to be operating within the scope of his position and state and federal laws. Donaldson also claims that the accusations of misappropriation of funding is unfounded.

“We fully intend to investigate where and when this money went missing,” said Mesa AG James Dunphy. “My office will work alongside federal authorities in this joint investigation, and we will find out how the money was transferred and where it went to. We must ensure complete transparency when operating as a government agency and that is why this investigation is absolutely necessary. I will keep everyone updated as the investigation progresses on the official Mesa Attorney General website.”

Officials say that Governor has the authority to remove MHP commissioners with only one commissioner being removed by a Governor in 1995. Nationalists are calling on Governor Adamson to remove Donaldson with Republicans also expressing concerns over his conduct and his ability to lead a transparent and effective Mesa Highway Patrol.

“I think that Governor Adamson should remove Commissioner Donaldson as it is quite clear to this legislature that he will be an ineffective leader who will be unable to maintain a transparent and effective agency and I know several Republicans too agree,” said State Representative Carter Brown. “We can’t have a commissioner responsible for enforcing our state laws serve in the role in an ineffective and untransparent manner and we certainly can’t have a liar serving in the role. I hope the Governor makes the right call.”

“I have spoken to Governor Adamson about this unfolding situation, and he has made it clear to me that he knows Republicans believe it’s time for Donaldson to go,” said State House Speaker Fredrick Holder. “We can’t have government and officials working in an office like the Mesa Highway Patrol while actively lying and concealing a crime. I call on Donaldson to step down and urge the MHP to find a new leader. This cannot and should not continue.”

Federal officials immediately requesting the agency to voluntarily provide records of finances through the start of his tenure through today’s complaint. The Mesa Highway Patrol refused to sign over financial records and a federal court ruled that all records be preserved by a third-party records archiver appointed my Mesa’s attorney general’s office.

“We will approve of and appoint an independent financial records archiver so that we can preserve all MHP records from April 2022 until today and beyond,” continued Mesa AG Dunphy. “We will also ensure that the MHP cooperates with the courts and have sent state agents to the agency with Federal Crimes Investigation Service agents ensuring no records are deleted or destroyed permanently. This is going to be a months long investigation and we want to give the courts all records related to the alleged fraud and abuse.”