Newberry fire chief faces investigation

NEWBERRY – The Alachua County Sheriff’s Office (ACSO) is investigating Newberry Fire Chief David Rodriguez for possible misuse of city funds, a criminal offense in which he could be charged with fraud, grand theft and inappropriate actions by a public servant, according to ACSO public information officer Todd Kelly.

The City of Newberry released a statement that the city’s fire chief, David Rodriguez, was placed on indefinite administrative leave without pay.

Rodriguez was not available for comment.

City Manager Keith Ashby said his initial concern about the invoice in question was triggered by a request for payment to a different vendor than is usually used by the city. After paying the vendor, he started to check further into the invoice and found some things that concerned him, he said.

“I contacted our city attorney, who advised me to contact the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office,” Ashby said.

“Essentially, the allegation is that the fire chief, who is also in charge of code enforcement, did services at his son’s house in High Springs in the amount of $2,800, and then had the tree service paid by the city as if it was a code enforcement work,” ACSO’s Kelly said.

Because this type of work would normally be under the authority of the codes enforcement officer, it did not initially raise any red flags, he said.

Deputy Robbie Parker of the ACSO is assigned to the case and forwarded information from his investigation to the State Attorney’s Office for review, Kelly said. As of Monday morning, Dec. 23, no charges have been filed against Rodriguez, he said.

Ashby explained why Rodriguez's suspension was without pay.

“When I see evidence that the city might be out some money, I like to make sure we are not out more money,” he said. “My job is to protect the city, and that’s what I am doing.”

If the investigation shows that Rodriguez did nothing wrong, the city will pay him back for the time he was on suspension.

Rodriguez, who joined the city as a part-time fire fighter in 1991, worked his way up through the ranks and has been fire chief for around 15 years. In his position, he supervises 16 employees.

The city’s news release also stated that Lt. Ben Buckner has been appointed as the interim fire chief, and said that the city hopes to resolve the matter as quickly as possible.

In a special commission meeting held on Thursday, Dec. 19, commissioners authorized auditor Ronald Whitesides of Purvis Gray & Co., the city’s new auditors, to conduct an investigation into any invoice issued by Rodriguez in an amount of $1,000 or more for the past year in an attempt to see if the flagged invoice is the only one in which funds may have been misappropriated.

Whitesides will present a letter of agreement to the city commission on Monday, Jan.13 to finalize their agreement. Cost for the auditor’s invoice was set to not exceed $15,000.

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