County Fuel Stations To Get Cameras

Highlands County officials are having surveillance cameras installed at all three of the county fuel depots as a precaution against thefts of gasoline and diesel.

Installing the cameras is one of 13 recommendations in the fuel usage audit conducted by the Highlands County Clerk of Court's internal compliance and audit staff.

The county's internal controls identify who pumps how much fuel, the audit concluded. But, the report added, the controls "were found to be overridden on several occasions" and "the remote location of all three fuel sites makes it possible for questionable activity to go undetected."

Rick Helms, assistant county administrator, said disciplinary action will be considered against one county employee, even though the state attorney's office declined prosecution after reviewing the sheriff's office's investigation into his actions regarding county fuel.

One fact that will be looked into, Helms said, is that his county vehicle's miles-per-gallon rate jumped by more than seven miles per gallon immediately after news reports broke in early August that the clerk's audit staff, checking on an anonymous tip, had video taped five government employees suspected of fuel thefts.

Helms said the clerk's audit and county fuel records show "no evidence of any significant theft of fuel."

"If there had been significant thefts of fuel," he added, "then it would show up on the inventory at the end of the fiscal year."

In fact, Helms said, the end-of-year inventory for the past fiscal year showed slight increases of fuel at the county's Avon Park, Sebring and Lake Placid fuel depots, compared to what the computerized tracking system showed should be there.

The additional amounts of fuel in the year-end inventory were 1.05 percent for the Avon Park fuel depot, 1.89 percent for the Sebring depot, and 1.08 percent for the Lake Placid depot, Helms said.

"You never will get it to the exact gallon, because the volume of fuel will vary by temperature," Helms said. "That will have an effect on it. How much of an effect, I don't know."

In early August, the clerk's audit staff reported video taping five government employees suspected of fuel theft because they filled gas cans in addition to fueling their government vehicles.

In three of the five cases, an investigation by the sheriff's office found that the employees were filling gas cans for legitimate and required county work. The sheriff's office then forwarded its investigation on the two other employees to the state attorney's office.

"Both cases were subsequently dropped by the state attorney's office," the audit reports.

Steve Houchin, assistant state attorney, said both employees claimed they filled gas cans for use on county work.

"Nobody was prepared to rebut those excuses, and they were not prosecuted," he said.

One of those two county employees resigned his job on Aug. 8. Audit staff reported recording him putting fuel into a gas container, putting that container into his county pickup truck, then driving to his residence and placing the gas can into a shed.

The second suspect, identified as "Employee A," was videotaped on two occasions. The audit staff reports recording him putting the county fuel dispenser into the bed of his county pickup truck, and then driving straight to the county employee parking lot, removing two gas cans from the bed of his county pickup and putting those cans into his personal vehicle.

For the 13-week period before news reports of the investigation into suspected fuel theft, that employee's county vehicle had a mileage rate of 11.94 miles per gallon, the audit stated. That county vehicle, used by the same employee, then had a mileage rate of 19.16 miles per gallon for the 13 week's following the release of the report on suspected fuel theft, according to the audit.

"It is odd that there would be a variance of that nature," Helms said. "That is a factor that will be considered in our review" of possible disciplinary action.

"Disciplinary action was held in abeyance during the period of time that this was being investigated," Helms said. "This is something that will be reviewed again, now that we've been notified that the state attorney is not going to prosecute.

"The fact that the state attorney has declined to prosecute does not necessarily mean that there were not rules of the department that may have been violated," he added. "A review of the situation will occur and based on that there may be discipline that will occur."

In mid-August, one county employee, who was not one of the five suspects, turned himself in and admitted stealing 10 gallons of gas. He was given a three-day suspension and paid restitution of $37.70.

The county's fuel depots provide gasoline and diesel to eight other government agencies, including Avon Park, Lake Placid and the Highlands County Board of Education.

One school board employee admitted stealing one gallon of gasoline from a county fuel depot, the audit report said.

"The school board waived their right for prosecution," the audit stated. "The employee received a three-day suspension without pay and paid restitution to the school board for the gallon of fuel taken (for) $3.70."