A former Decherd, Tenn., water and sewer superintendent and a local business owner worked together to defraud the city of at least $210,000 in what state investigators described as a billing and kickback scheme.
Officials with the Tennessee Comptroller's office said in a statement issued Monday that former Decherd water and sewer superintendent James Wesley Parks "assisted Poultry Electric and Hardware owner Jeff Frame in creating fraudulent invoices to the city totaling $210,774" between January 2012 and August 2014.
City officials first spotted questionable activity and brought their concerns to the comptroller's office and district attorney's office, according to the statement.
State investigators said Frame's company was submitting fraudulent invoices to the city for equipment, supplies, chemicals and services that were never delivered.
Parks acknowledged the scheme and claimed that Frame shared the proceeds from this arrangement with Parks and another former city employee, state officials said. Purchases from Poultry Electric and Hardware sometimes exceeded $30,000 in a single month.
Investigators documented examples and exhibits depicting fraudulent invoices for work that was never performed and fictitious products that were never received by the city, officials said.
In September 2017, Parks and Frame each were indicted by the Franklin County Grand Jury on one count of theft over $60,000, according to the Comptroller's office.
"As with so many of these cases, a significant problem within the City of Decherd allowed this scheme to go undetected for many months," Comptroller Justin P. Wilson said. "The former superintendent was solely responsible for ordering and approving the purchases from Poultry Electric and Hardware. These responsibilities should be separated."