Clearwater Police Arrest Former City Employee In Theft Of Funds
Clearwater Police detectives have arrested a former city employee, 58 year-old Robert Carpenter, for stealing more than $148,000 from the Parks and Recreation Department.
Carpenter was taken into custody this morning in Clearwater. He faces one count of scheming to defraud, a first-degree felony.
He is accused of taking cash payments from a concessionaire at Eddie C. Moore Complex and from a soccer league that rented fields from the city, in addition to cash thefts from two other sources or events.
Carpenter was a recreation supervisor assigned to the athletics area of the Parks and Recreation Department when the accounting discrepancies first were noticed internally earlier this year. He resigned March 28 as an internal audit and police investigation began. The thefts date back as early as 2013.
The investigation revealed that Carpenter was employed by CWPR from November 1998 through March 2018; at the time of his leaving CWPR’s employment in 2018, he was the supervisor of the athletics division and was earning $52,699 per year.
Detectives spoke with Ed Bates, the owner of the company “Kinney’s Kitchen.” Bates stated that for many years he has been paying cash directly to Carpenter in exchange for vendor rights to sell concessions at CWPR’s Eddie C. Moore (“Moore”) Complex. He stated that his agreement with CWPR was for him to pay $26,000 per year from 2014 through 2018, and that he always gave the cash to Carpenter personally and was never given a receipt.
Investigators spoke with accounting personnel with CWPR who confirmed that Bates had this agreement with CWPR, but that the accounting records show no record of any payment by Bates to CWPR. Staff of CWPR told detectives that in March 2018 they were reviewing their records and noticed that they could not find concession payments for Moore Complex.
Carpenter was asked about the payments, he stated that he had been taking the payments from Bates and applying them to the accounting records for CWPR’s McMullen Booth Tennis (“McMullen”) Complex to make McMullen Complex’s finances appear better than they were. Kevin Dunbar, CWPR’s Director, stated that he then asked Carpenter to meet with him to provide an explanation and provide any supporting paperwork; he stated that Carpenter agreed to meet, but then resigned the following day without additional explanation or providing any paperwork.
An independent forensic accountant, Laura Brock, has reviewed the records and told investigators that there is no record of Bates’ payments in any CWPR records. Based on Bates’ testimony and the absence of payments shown in the CWPR accounting records, the investigation showed that Carpenter unlawfully kept $91,000 (from October 2014 through March 2018) in payments from Bates that rightfully belonged to CWPR.
In addition, detectives spoke with Eber Azpeita and Carlos Ceron, representatives of the amateur soccer league “LaLiga Mexicana” (“LaLiga”). LaLiga had an agreement with CWPR to use CWPR soccer fields in exchange for approximately $5500 per season (with two seasons per year). Azpeita and Ceron stated that they always paid cash directly to Carpenter, and that Carpenter gave them receipts for these payments.
The reviewed receipts, which indicate that from 2013 through 2017, Ceron gave Carpenter $21,607 in cash, and from 2017 to present, Azpeita gave Carpenter $4500 in cash. Ceron also stated that he did not always obtain a receipt from Carpenter. According to Brock and the accounting staff of CWPR, records showed no documentation of any payment by LaLiga since 2013 when the prior supervisor retired. Based on payments of $5500 per season (with 2 seasons per year), from the winter season of 2013 to the summer season of 2018, the investigation showed that Carpenter unlawfully kept $54,000 in payments from LaLiga that rightfully belonged to CWPR.
“Our detectives spent months piecing together this case,” said Police Chief
Dan Slaughter. “This is a supervisor who was supposed to be responsible for
making sure taxpayers’ money is not stolen. Now it is going to cost him.”
“We are disappointed that one of our own employees engaged in such behavior,”
said City Manager Bill Horne. “We have hired a forensic auditor and will be
implementing recommendations for putting into place the proper checks and
balances.”
Carpenter is being held on $250,000 bail.