The Magnolia city board, in an unexpected decision, fired a previously disciplined city employee after allegations that he embezzled city funds surfaced Tuesday night.
Town aldermen voted 3-2 in executive session to terminate Willie Bowen, who was previously disciplined last September after an Aug. 22, 2013, Enterprise-Journal article described how Bowen allegedly was caught sleeping on the job while work-release inmates he was charged with supervising roamed freely.
Aldermen Lonnie Cox, Mercedes Ricks and Joe Cornacchione voted in favor of termination, while Becky Magee and Sharon Burton voted against it.
Mayor Melvin Harris reportedly said on Tuesday that he plans to veto the termination, and the board is expected to meet at 5 this evening on the matter.
Documents and video footage obtained by residents and released to the Enterprise-Journal allegedly show that on Jan. 10, Bowen sold city property — aluminum cans he and inmates collected from roadsides and other public areas — for cash while on duty, and city officials say the cash was never remitted to the city.
City Clerk Melissa Thornhill declined comment on the matter this morning and refused to furnish a copy of financial records.
The cans were placed inside a city-owned vehicle and taken to the McComb Recycling Center, 715 S. Broadway St., and exchanged for $51 cash.
The McComb Recycling Center gave the Enterprise-Journal video surveillance footage and a copy of receipt No. 64615, from 9:46 a.m. on Jan. 10. The receipt indicates a transaction of $51.51 cash paid to Bowen in exchange for 101 pounds of aluminum cans. It also bears what appears to be Bowen’s signature at the bottom.
Alderman Lonnie Cox said cash received from recycled cans was designated to the city’s beautification fund.
Cox also said Bowen admitted to using the cash that day to purchase lunch for himself and the inmates.
The incident has now drawn the attention of the State Auditor’s Office as well as the District Attorney.
District Attorney Dee Bates would not comment on the allegations against Bowen but said that if a city employee sells city property and pockets the money it would violate the state’s felony embezzlement statute if the money is over $25. He said that trash would be considered city property once it is picked up by a city employee and placed into a city-owned vehicle.
“I know that it is also illegal to work inmates for personal benefit — converting their labor into personal benefit,” Bates said.
Agent Thelma Walker with the State Auditor’s Office said the case will be handed over to investigators.
