The Scribner consultant was arrested on a theft charge having billed the city $7,425 (€6,985) for an HP Inc printer and other equipment.
Norfolk Daily News reported that a 55-year-old man named as Merlyn Lee Cavner Jr., was arrested in September, and was accused of overcharging for his services and “providing the city with less expensive computer equipment than reported”. Jeremy Willis, Scribner (Dodge County) assistant police chief, said in an arrest warrant affidavit that “the City of Scribner has suffered a loss on these transactions for approximately $4,500 to $5,000 (€4,233 to 4,704)”.
According to a city clerk, Cavner was paid $7,425 (€6,985) to buy an HP Inc LaserJet MFP, “a workstation server and an ASUS desktop computer” during the period between 27 October 2015 and 15 April 2016. and also charged $1,900 (€1,787) “as an on-site setup fee”. The city paid Cavner $7,690 (€7,234) upfront, as requested by him.
Willis said that the crime was discovered when a city clerk saw the printer’s description on the invoice and realised that Cavner had “delivered and installed an HP printer worth $439 (€413) on Amazon.com”. The clerk also discovered that the HP Inc server, estimated at $700 (€658), was charged as $1,200 (€1,128), and that the clerk’s own computer was a different model to the one specified, and was worth $600 (€564).
Ken Thomas, the Mayor of Scribner, declined to comment on the case, but Cavner “posted 10 percent of [a] $10,000 (€9,408) bond on Sept. 23 at a bond hearing, according to court records”. The crime carries a two-year prison sentence and a $10,000 fine if Cavner is found guilty.