The Office of the Inspector General, Audit Division, has completed an audit of the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force Program Cooperative Agreement No. 2004‑MC‑CX‑K008 in the amount of $681,822 (including one supplement), awarded by the Office of Justice Programs (OJP), Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), to the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office (NMAGO). The purpose of the award is to provide assistance to state and local law enforcement agencies to enhance investigative responses to offenders who use the Internet, online communication systems, or other computer technology to sexually exploit children.

Since 1984, OJP has provided federal leadership in developing the nation's capacity to prevent and control crime, improve the criminal and juvenile justice systems, increase knowledge about crime and related issues, and assist crime victims. As a component of OJP, OJJDP provides national leadership, coordination, and resources to prevent and respond to juvenile delinquency and victimization.

New Mexico’s ICAC Task Force is under the NMAGO, Investigations Division. The ICAC Task Force works with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to achieve a common goal ‑ the successful identification, apprehension and prosecution of child molesters, child pornographers, child pornography collectors or distributors, child abusers, and preferential sexual offenders who target children. New Mexico’s ICAC Task Force develops cooperative working agreements with local law enforcement agencies to facilitate their training to investigate and prosecute these complex cyber cases. Currently, 13 agencies are affiliated with New Mexico’s ICAC Task Force.

The purpose of this audit was to determine whether reimbursements claimed for costs under the cooperative agreement were allowable, supported, and in accordance with applicable laws, regulations, guidelines, and terms and conditions of the cooperative agreement, and to determine program performance and accomplishments. Our audit was designed to review performance in the following areas:  (1) internal control environment; (2) drawdowns; (3) cooperative agreement expenditures, including personnel and indirect costs; (4) budget management and control; (5) matching; (6) property management; (7) program income; (8) Financial Status Reports (FSR), Categorical Assistance Progress Reports, and Monthly Performance Measure Reports; (9) cooperative agreement requirements; (10) program performance and accomplishments; and (11) monitoring of subgrantees and contractors. We determined that matching costs, program income, and monitoring of subgrantees and contractors were not applicable to this cooperative agreement. As shown in Table 1, the NMAGO was awarded a total of $681,822 to implement the program.

We examined the NMAGO’s accounting records, financial and progress reports, and operating policies and procedures and found that the:

• Financial Status Reports, Categorical Assistance Progress Reports, and Monthly Performance Measure Reports were up to 215 days late and were inaccurate or unsupported and
  
  
• Brochures that were produced with cooperative agreement funds did not include the OJP Financial Guide required statement acknowledging the awarding agency’s assistance on the brochures.

These items are discussed in detail in the Findings and Recommendations section of the report. Our audit objectives, scope, and methodology are discussed in Appendix I.