PASCO, Wash. (AP) — The public works director of Franklin County, Wash., has been fired in the latest development in the county’s embezzlement scandal.
County commissioners voted unanimously Monday to fire Tim Fife. Commissioners also put the assistant public works director, Guy Walters, on unpaid administrative leave. Fife and Walters had been on paid leave since the county’s public works accounting and administrative director was arrested Feb. 2. The Tri-City Herald reports that six other county employees placed on leave returned to work in mid-February.
Court documents say the fired accounting director, Dennis Huston, is suspected of stealing more than $2.8 million through false invoices. Huston has not been charged with a crime. He was released while the state attorney general’s office continues to investigate.
Franklin County recently sued Huston and his wife, seeking more than $2.8 million the county claims Huston embezzled since 1996.
