25-04-2025
Judge orders temporary pause on paying Madison County treasurer amid criminal charges, hearing set
MADISON COUNTY, Iowa – A hearing has been set regarding a petition to remove the embattled Madison County Treasurer from office after she was asked to resign, but did not. In the meantime, county officials have been ordered not to pay her salary, benefits, or any other compensation.
Amanda DeVos was elected to a four-year term in November 2022 and began serving that termon Jan. 1, 2023, according to court records. On January 31, 2025, she was arrested for alleged felonious misconduct in office, tampering with records, fraudulent practice in the third degree, and third-degree theft.
A criminal complaint states investigators were tipped off in late November of 2024 that DeVos may have used her access as county treasurer to alter government records to make it look like she paid $758 for her vehicle registration plates when she had not.
Roughly a month later, the Madison County Sheriff's Office announced additional criminal charges were pending against DeVos.
'These charges are separate from earlier charges filed in relation to vehicle registrations and stem from an investigation into DeVos' own property taxes that were owed for 2023/2024,' said Sheriff Jason Barnes in a written statement at the time.
Those charges are expected to be filed by the Iowa Attorney General's Office, which is reportedly conducting an investigation of its own.
DeVos was relieved of her duties after a vote during a Madison County Board of Supervisors meeting on Feb. 6. However, it appears she continued to collect her salary and potential benefits for more than two months.
She was asked to resign from her position, according to County Attorney Stephen Swanson. When she did not, Swanson took the legal step dictated by Iowa Code Section 66 to force her out of her elected office.
It was unclear how much time had passed between when DeVos was asked to resign and when the legal action was taken, but last Friday, Swanson filed a petition to formally remove her from her position and also petitioned for an injunction that would prohibit 'Madison County from distributing salary, benefits, or other compensation to Defendant during the pendency of this action.'
DeVosPetitionforRemoval_aef1fbDownload
The court filing points to purported investigations by the state AG's Office and the State Auditor's Office and to several incidents of alleged money mishandling by Devos, like when the City of Winterset erroneously received more than a quarter of a million dollars in a series of erroneous financial deposits from the Treasurer's office that were meant for other municipalities.
The filing went on to allege, 'the Defendant's continued receipt of public funds while facing felony charges and allegations of gross mismanagement is contrary to the public interest and unjustly enriches her at taxpayer expense.'
Devos was making $78,787.13 this year after getting a 3.57% raise, according to online public records posted by the Iowa State Association of Counties.
District Judge Stacy Ritchie, for Iowa's Fifth Judicial District, set a public hearing for May 5 at 10 a.m. at the Madison County Courthouse and ruled that 'pending the outcome of these proceedings, Madison County, its officers and agents are temporarily enjoined from disbursing any salary, benefits or other compensation to Amanda DeVos.'
DeVos's elected term is set to expire on December 31, 2026.
After her initial arrest, WHO-13 discovered that the Winterset Community School District said it was forced to withdraw investment funds to cover payroll after late payments from the Madison County Treasurer. DeVos allegedly blamed many of the financial issues on a third-party systems management company that the county retained. However, multiple leaders of small municipalities and local school districts within Madison County provided documentation to WHO-13 that showed financial errors that impacted their organizations went unacknowledged by the Treasurer for months, despite repeated efforts to notify her.
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