Cherryville employees accused of using city credit card for personal use

CHERRYVILLE, N.C.,None — Some Cherryville employees are off the job after city leaders say they were using a city-issued credit card for personal use.

City leaders met in October and say they discovered the charges through a preliminary investigation. They then got an independent auditor to expand the investigation and determine who was involved.

A statement from the city noted the auditor "confirmed that personal charges totaling approximately $3,600 had been made but that much of the personal charges had previously been re-paid to the City."

The statement also read, "The city has since received payment for all remaining personal charges. The people involved no longer work for the city."

Eyewitness News went to Cherryville and spoke with people who said the city should get the police involved.

"You set a bad precedent by not filing charges," Barry Williams said.

Kenny Seitz said, "It seems like if you don't punish someone, then it's telling everybody else in the future it's okay to do that."

Eyewitness News asked City Manager David Hodgkins for an interview to find out if the city planned to press criminal charges and whether there would be any changes to its credit card policies.

Via email, Hodgkins replied, "No other information will be forthcoming. City officials consider this matter to be closed at this time."

Resident Brian Williams said more needs to be done to prevent it from happening again.

"The principle of the thing is there should be some accountability, some form of punishment for misuse of taxpayers money," Brian Williams said.

Eyewitness News has submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the Cherryville city manager, requesting the city's credit card statements for the last year.

WSOC