Feb. 21, 2018—In Tennessee last week, a former Knox County Schools technician was indicted on a charge of felony theft for using school purchasing cards to buy roughly $187,000 worth of luxury auto parts for his own car repair business, according to a Knox News report.
A Knox County grand jury returned an indictment last week charging 32-year-old Michael Kenneth James with a single count of theft over $60,000.
Specifically, James is accused of buying $187,670 in parts manufactured by Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Lexus and “other manufacturers which are not in the school’s fleet” between July 2014 and November 2017.
A press release from the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury’s office explained that James concealed his scheme by fabricating work orders for maintenance and repairs on school system vehicles that were neither needed nor performed.
James also allegedly used the school’s tax-exempt status to avoid paying $17,359 in sales tax on his personal purchases.
James was fired on Nov. 21.
