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Auditor: Agriculture employee improperly used truck

The State Auditor today released a report saying that the Agriculture Department had improperly let an employee use a state vehicle for personal travel.

Pat Jones, the deputy director of the department's pesticide section, drove the state-owned pick-up truck between Raleigh and his home in Reidsville "on an almost daily basis" according to the audit. He also claimed the travel time as comp time.

"As a result, the Deputy Director received a financial benefit of $36,546.71," the report said.

The auditor recommended disciplining both Jones and his supervisor.

In his response, Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler acknowledged that there had been some confusion. Jones, he said, was to have had more duties in the field that would have required him to drive a state owned truck.

But, Troxler said, there was no ill intent on Jones' part and, in fact, it was because Jones kept such good and straight forward records that the auditor was able to do the report in hand.

"We do not believe that Mr. Jones engaged in any intentional misconduct, and therefore we do not intend to take any disciplinary action against him," Troxler said in his reply to the audit.

Troxler did agree that his department needed to develop "teleworking guidelines" and said that the department needed to have a process for annual reviews of duty stations, vehicle assignments and the like.

Click here for the whole audit report and the Ag Department's response. (PDF)