Tuesday, July 22, 2014

TBI investigating Cocke County Highway Department
Half a dozen agents with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation spent all day Monday seizing records and downloading computer files associated with the Cocke County Highway Department. The agents from the Knoxville and Nashville offices visited the highway department offices on Lower Quarry Road, telling Highway Superintendent Kenneth Ford the investigation was at the request of the attorney general's office. "They just showed up and said they wanted some file information.Some people here in the county get mad because you are trying to save money and they cause you all kinds of trouble. Politics, that's what it is, 100 percent politics," Hall told the NewsSource. He says the agents took records documenting how much rock has been hauled out, and purchases and receipts. Superintendent Ford said he was told what the investigation is about. "Somebody alleged I misused county equipment. It's nothing but politics. You got a bunch in this county, and they've done it for years. The county has bought stuff from them and they charge them ten times more than they ought to and when you stop it it makes them mad. That it in a nutshell." The superintendent said he told a female agent he will cooperate in anyway and take her anywhere in the county and "if you ask me about something, if I've done it I'll tell you I've done it and tell you why I've done it." The superintendent went on to say, " I've stopped most of the stealing over here and if I know of anyone who is stealing I'll fire them. It's as simple as that." "I'd just like the people of Cocke County to know that since I've been over here, we've corrected alot of problems here at this office. I'm not going into detail, but we've corrected a bunch of 'em. And I made several people mad. And when you make 'em mad, when they are robbing the county, they're gonna try to get back at you. And that's what it is." Another agent spent most of the day at the courthouse annex looking at records in the county finance office. Cocke County Mayor Vaughn Moore said the investigation is confined to the Highway Department. "The agent requested records for payroll, invoices and purchase orders for the road department and the road department only." District Attorney General Jimmy Dunn did not return a phone call seeking comment.


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