City employee takes home city-owned device, tries to sell it on Facebook

AUSTIN (KXAN) – Austin’s Office of the City Auditor released an investigative report regarding a city employee who tried to sell a city-owned mobile device on Facebook Marketplace. While investigating the city-employee incident, they determined there was $11,000 more in missing inventory from the department where he worked.  

The former employee worked in Communications and Technology Management, an IT department within the City of Austin. The employee, who is a male, said he found the device in a bag. Rather than deal with the headache of returning it, the report said, he tried to sell it online for $1,000. The Investigative Report said he also may have lowered the price at one point to $500.

Eventually, another employee saw the device on Facebook Marketplace, and the Austin Police Department was informed of the incident. The employee admitted to attempting to sell City property and resigned before he could be fired. 

After the issue with the former employee, the Office of the City Auditor conducted an investigation to see if more inventory was missing or stolen. They found $11,000 in city-owned equipment was either missing, stolen or in use but not properly accounted for. 

The office investigating the matter said they did not find evidence the employee tried to steal or sell any other equipment.

The investigation determined that items were not being tracked efficiently, and the relevant departments vowed to make changes to improve conditions.