By KEVIN J. SHUTT
kevin.shutt@newssun.com
SEBRING -- After receiving an anonymous tip, reportedly from a county employee, Clerk of Courts auditors spent 92 hours monitoring the county's fuel sites in Avon Park and Sebring.
The allegation, first posed via a March 25 phone call, was that the caller confronted a co-worker about stealing gas at the Avon Park facility, according to a timeline in the Fuel Usage Monitoring Report that was dated June 17.
Prepared by the Clerk's Compliance and Internal Audit Division, the three-page report identifies nine circumstances in two months when five government employees fueled their work vehicles, then filled gas cans.
Highlands County Sheriff Lt. Tim Lethbridge confirmed Tuesday that a case was opened June 30.
It should conclude by Friday, he said.
Because the investigation is open, Lethbridge was limited in what he could release.
"We received an initial report from the Clerk of Courts office," he said.
County Administrator Michael Wright said he learned of the investigation about 30 days ago.
"It would be improper for us to do anything administratively until the criminal investigation was complete," he said.
For the same reason, Wright kept his comment brief, directing questions to the Sheriff's Office.
The county doesn't have a written fuel usage policy, said Public Information Officer Gloria Rybinski.
Wednesday, August 06, 2008 - www.newssun.com/0806-ks-bcc-fuel-theft