City of Austin Hires Convicted Thief, Gets Robbed of Over $1.3M

[Elderberry]

Texas Scorecard by Jacob Asmussen October 9, 2020

Local officials ineptly allowed one of the largest fraud cases on city government record.

During an affordability crisis in the city, local officials continue to disastrously mishandle citizens’ precious money—this time allowing a convicted thief to casually steal over $1.3 million.

Randall Nelson Whited, a former employee of the Austin Public Library, is facing a criminal case after the city auditor’s office investigated and alleged he used city credit cards to buy $1.3 million in printer toner—10 times more than the library needed—so he could steal the extra and resell it online.

Whited is also accused of using city credit cards—of which he had access to more than 10—to fund his apparent personal spending spree, buying at least $18,000 worth of electronics such as video games, robotic vacuums, virtual reality headsets, and even a drone.

The thefts spanned more than a decade, from 2007 to 2019, but officials believe most of it occurred within the last five years.

How was Whited able to get away with stealing over a million of citizens’ cash? According to the city auditor’s office, city officials at the library did not oversee spending and allowed Whited to approve his own purchases.

More: https://texasscorecard.com/local/city-of-austin-hires-convicted-thief-gets-robbed-of-over-1-3m/

[PeteS in CA]

Per #4 on this, https://heavy.com/news/randall-whited/ , Whited is a convicted felon. IIRC, the City of Austin doesn't allow itself to ask about criminal records during its hiring process. The city does do criminal background checks every two years ... but only 10 years back ... his conviction was about 17 or 18 years before he was hired.

And then there's the city's incredible failure to notice, well, a Hades of a lot. They only found out after Whited had resigned, probably when his replacement asked why his budget was grossly larger than (s)he could possibly need.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Someone other than the thief should be prosecuted for this

[catfish1957]

Whited is also accused of using city credit cards—of which he had access to more than 10—to fund his apparent personal spending spree, buying at least $18,000 worth of electronics such as video games, robotic vacuums, virtual reality headsets, and even a drone.

So how does someone of the mindset and maturity of a 14 year old kid, have procurment rights to the tune of $1.3M

Nevermind, this is Travis County, the home of mindless liberals.

[PeteS in CA]

So how does someone of the mindset and maturity of a 14 year old kid, have procurment rights to the tune of $1.3M

Nevermind, this is Travis County, the home of mindless liberals.

Sounds like he might have been reselling the goodies on Craig's List or FleEBay.

[catfish1957]

Sounds like he might have been reselling the goodies on Craig's List or FleEBay.

Yeah, but with that shopping list, I'd bet he was focusing a few of those items for himself.