Baltimore County employee misuses, steals government trucks, inspector general report finds

A Baltimore County Department of Public Works employee allegedly stole two government pickup trucks and used a dump truck for personal reasons from December 2021 to July 2023, according to a report from the county inspector general’s office.

Baltimore County Inspector General Kelly Madigan’s investigation found that the county lost an estimated $938.72 in unnecessary fuel costs and $1,028.02 in labor. Her office has asked the Bureau of Highways, which is within the Department of Public Works, to create a vehicle usage policy that employees must sign before being given access to county vehicles.

The office also recommends that all crew chiefs in the Bureau of Highways be given access to NexTraq, a program used by the county to track the speeds and locations of its vehicles.

The inspector general’s investigation began in August, when the office received a complaint that a county employee had stolen two white 2017 Ford F-250 tailgate trucks.

The Bureau of Highways employee stole the vehicles from highway shop #3, an office for crewmembers located in Glyndon, and tried to sell them on multiple social media sites, according to the inspector general’s November report.

The theft allegation is being handled as a criminal matter by the Baltimore County State’s Attorney’s Office.

Through employee interviews and records reviews, the inspector general’s office also found that from December 2021 to July 2023, the employee used their assigned dump truck 47 times for personal reasons.

The employee frequently drove the assigned dump truck to their home or locations nearby, where it was parked for anywhere from five minutes to three hours and 49 minutes, causing unnecessary use of fuel and attendance fraud, the report found.

Crewmembers are often assigned to remove snow and debris from roads, fill potholes and clear storm drains. But the employee would use the dump truck to haul personal debris from their residence, according to the report.

In November 2022, a crew chief spoke to the employee regarding leaving assignment without permission, the inspector general’s office says.

However, the crew chief admittedly gave permission for the employee to take the dump truck home during the workday on a few occasions for specific reasons, such as to retrieve medication, according to the report. The crew chief did not give permission for the employee to drive home for lunch with their family or spend time with their child.