Farmington’s public works director has been arrested on suspicion of stealing $33,000 from the city in a scheme involving money from local building permits.
Washington County deputies arrested Daniel Ledbetter, 45, on Friday on suspicion of felony theft of property. He was booked into the Washington County Detention Center, where he was later released on $5,000 bond.
Deputies earlier this week began investigating missing building permits and revenue money from the City of Farmington. The investigation revealed that Ledbetter, whose job includes collecting building permit fees, was pocketing the fee money that he should have been putting toward city funds, according to an arrest warrant affidavit filed in Washington County Circuit Court.
Mayor Ernie Penn noticed discrepancies in the amount of money being collected. He also noticed some invoices for building permits showing discrepancies were made out to “LCS Services,” a company owned by Ledbetter, the affidavit states.
The building permit fees for these invoices were deposited into an account for LCS Services, rather than being transferred into city funds, the court documents show.
When confronted by investigators, Ledbetter allegedly admitted to selling the building permits to a local builder and depositing the money into his business bank account, cost the City of Farming $33,000, according to the arrest warrant affidavit.
