A former county employee cleared of wrongdoing in one investigation is the target of another, the Washington County Sheriff's Office announced Monday.
Two search warrants were executed Monday, one at a Meigs County company that did business with Washington County and the other at former county maintenance supervisor Chuck Moody's residence at 1620 Moody Ridge Road in Vincent.
The Meigs County warrant alleges Moody bragged about getting "kickbacks" from a company from which he had ordered nearly $50,000 worth of energy efficient light bulbs. Police suspect more than $40,000 of the bulbs were never delivered to Washington County.
Monday's search of Universal Products in Long Bottom also revealed Washington County may have improperly paid an additional $10,000 to $15,000 for cleaning chemicals, according to Washington County Sheriff Larry Mincks.
"We have found a number of invoices where the county was paying for these chemicals and this (company) doesn't even deal in chemicals," Mincks said.
The sheriff said $24,800 in cash was seized from a safe and numerous financial records were taken in the search at Universal Products. Financial records were being seized from Moody's residence Monday night, Mincks said.
Moody, who resigned Oct. 30 from his position as county building maintenance supervisor, was responsible for placing the orders with Universal Products. Mincks said all of the purchase orders would have been approved by former Commissioner John Grimes, who left office in January after losing in the 2008 primary election.
Grimes and fellow former Commissioner Larry Steinel were accused of destroying public records shortly after leaving office in January. According to the county prosecutor's office, both face possible indictment by a future grand jury. Moody was also implicated in the destruction of records, although the prosecutor's office recently said he would not be charged in connection with that.
"It makes you wonder why all these records were destroyed," Mincks said. "It's a theory we're looking at."
The time frame of the alleged purchasing scheme was not immediately clear. Moody had worked for the county since 1997.
According to the search warrant, a police informant overheard Moody brag about receiving kickbacks from Sam Seckman, owner of Universal Products, who was paid nearly $50,000 by the county for 143 cases of light bulbs. Mincks said he can only confirm 38 cases were delivered.
Mincks said Seckman is cooperating with the investigation. As of Monday afternoon, no arrests had been made, but Mincks said arrests or indictments in the case are likely.
Moody could not be reached for comment. A person at Seckman's residence said he was not available for comment Monday afternoon.
Mincks said Moody resigned after other maintenance employees were questioned about the missing inventory. Moody's resignation letter indicated he had been planning to relocate and made no reference to any problems or allegations.
"I believe he knew we were looking into this when he resigned," Mincks said. "Since then, we have attempted to question him and he refused to cooperate."
Mincks said Moody has an extensive criminal background, including convictions for theft, receiving stolen property, burglary, arson and drunken driving.
Commissioners Sam Cook and Steve Weber said they could not discuss the specifics of the investigation; however, they said purchasing protocols at the county are being reviewed.
"We've got a system of checks and balances, but if the guys you are working with are crooked, you've got a problem," Cook said. "The problem is the person told us the items were delivered and ready for payment."
Weber said new inventory standards and confirmation of delivery will be required before payments are issued in the future.
Washington County Prosecutor Jim Schneider had indicated last week Moody would not face charges surrounding the alleged destruction of records.
"I stand by that statement," Schneider said. "Whatever Moody did there was at the request of Steinel or Grimes, so he did it at the direction of his boss and that's not subject to prosecution."
Schneider had previously stated he planned to present cases to a grand jury earlier this month against Grimes and Steinel. When that didn't happen Schneider said he had no excuse for the delay. He declined to comment on whether the ongoing investigation or the execution of Monday's search warrant led to the delay
