Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
As the investigation continues into allegations of fraud at Asheville City Hall, there are still more questions than answers. The biggest question of all, perhaps, is just how widespread were the alleged abuses?
The Asheville Citizen-Times leads its story thusly:
An investigation into benefits fraud has implicated top city management and is looking into all municipal workers who used a flexible benefits plan, according to police search warrants obtained by the Citizen-Times on Tuesday.
The story sets the timeline, but never clearly tells me how investigators first found out about the alleged fraud. Is this a whistle-blower case?
On March 9, Assistant Human Resources Director Robin Nix told investigators she submitted thousands of dollars of flexible spending reimbursement claims for items she didn’t purchase, according to the warrants.
Thursday, Human Resources Director Lisa Roth said she had become aware of problems in the benefits program. Roth said she was “fairly confident that others in the Human Resources Department and others in the City of Asheville may have violated the conditions of the flexible reimbursement program.”
One of the original targets of the investigation, city human resources employee Laura Masters, alleged that Roth did not comply with benefits and insurance regulations.
Could this abuse have gone on for years? The Mountain Xpress story indicates it could have:
In their search Friday, police seized information on every employee enrolled in the flexible-spending program from Jan. 1, 2005, to present.
The other two warrants, also filed today, detail searches in December and January. The first, of Master’s Asheville Savings Bank account, mentions that Masters and Oldre were possibly involved in fraud and may have exceeded the flexible spending cap by thousands of dollars, with Masters claiming $7,200 in 2007, $14,760 in 2008 and $14,500 in 2009. Oldre claimed $7,109 in 2009. The second warrant searched city records related to “questionable claims” Masters allegedly made for reimbursement.
WLOS leads its story with a bit of a sensational bent:
A hot tub, pillows and computer software – all items that could land Asheville city employees in hot water for fraud.
But WLOSers go on to give a good explanation of the investigation. And the focus on the purchases puts a nice point on what may have been going on.
There’s certainly going to be plenty more to come. We’ll keep watching.
Well…keep us posted. Many of us would like to have the jobs soon to be vacated…just sayin’.