East Central Reporter

Former Shelby County State’s Attorney Nichole Kroncke established an American Express Amazon Prime Business card for the Office of Shelby County State’s Attorney. While this article will focus on redactions of certain charges, other points of interest include taxpayers paying for memberships to Amazon Business Prime for three users and a large number of Reward Points accumulated (19,363) that the public will be unable to benefit from.

Considering this was a public credit card for the Office of State’s Attorney, it is notable that the $179.00 option for three users was charged to taxpayers versus using the free option that offers one user, which may suffice for the office.

The last statement submitted to the county clerk contained four lines of redactions and an accompanying letter regarding what appears to be related to three of those redactions. With four lines redacted and an explanation for only three purchases, it raises questions.

“Please be advised that ASA Jay Scott and I will pay our own ARDC annual dues since our last day will be January 31, 2023. In addition, I attended the State’s Attorney’s Conference in December. Due to my upcoming resignation, I will pay for the lodging for that conference.”

Public credit card charges are not exempt from disclosure, even if paid by a public official. The fact these items were redacted and paid from personal funds rather than public raises the question: were these public or private transactions?

All requests to obtain an unredacted copy have resulted in claims they are unable to provide the requested records due to an ongoing investigation. A poorly redacted version does offer insight into three of the four charges because magnifying the image reveals information.

Since her letter indicated she attended a State’s Attorney Conference in December, research began into such events in December 2022 in Orlando, Florida, and surrounding areas. To date, no “State’s Attorney Conference” has been identified as held in or around Orlando in either November or December 2022.

In light of extensive online research capabilities, assistance is sought in identifying any State’s Attorney Conference or prosecutor conference held in Orlando in December 2022. If such conference information is located, it should be forwarded accordingly. If none existed, questions arise about why there was a charge to a public credit card for a hotel reservation in Orlando.

At this point, it remains uncertain if this particular hotel charge and unexplained first-line redaction are part of a criminal investigation preventing record release. Considering these records are part of an active investigation, they will eventually become public; updates will follow when available.

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