City worker accused of scrap metal theft resigns
Parks employee hasn’t been charged, denies wrongdoing
A high-level Santa Fe Parks and Recreation Department employee suspected of selling city-owned scrap metal for personal gain resigned Tuesday.
The resignation came nearly two years after the employee was accused of the theft. City investigators reported in March that there was evidence he had sold the metal.
“I’m very appreciative for the opportunity you have provided me through the years toward my professional and personal development,” the employee wrote in his resignation letter. “I will truly miss my co-workers and wish you all much future success.”
The city redacted part of the resignation letter, saying it constituted a matter of opinion.
The New Mexican is not identifying the parks and recreation manager because he has not been charged. Efforts to reach the employee for comment were unsuccessful Thursday. He has denied wrongdoing to city investigators.
City Manager Brian Snyder declined to discuss the matter, calling it a personnel issue.
An investigative report conducted by City Attorney Kelley Brennan and the city’s internal auditor, Liza Kerr, concluded: “There is sufficient evidence on the record for a reasonable person to conclude that the [suspect] sold city-owned property for personal gain.”
The employee, who worked at the Genoveva Chavez Community Center, remained on the city’s payroll after two of his co-workers reported the alleged theft to the city’s fraud, waste and abuse hotline in June 2015.
“Any employee within the city has rights under our personnel rules and regulations,” Snyder said last month.
The two co-workers claimed the manager had loaded cityowned scrap metal into his personal truck, sold it at a local scrap yard and pocketed the money. They provided the city a photo of the scrap metal in the back of the employee’s truck outside the Chavez Center.
The report triggered multiple investigations, including an inquiry into how a police detective who was assigned to the case discovered the tipsters’ identities, which were revealed by the officer when he showed up at their workplace and interviewed them in front of their colleagues. The city hotline is supposed to keep tipsters anonymous.
The tipsters told investigators that retribution quickly followed. They said they became targets of revenge and sharpedged scrutiny at work — something the hotline was supposed to prevent.