Скачать или смотреть Mayor Coppinger Responds to Health Dept. Computer Thefts

We're learning more about the arrest of a man, accused of stealing more than a dozen computers from the Hamilton County Health Department while he was employed there.Ricky Flerl pleaded guilty in 2006 to stealing nearly $300 from an office that he was in charge of cleaning. During that time, he was also working at the health department.Ricky Flerl has been a maintenance worker at the health department since the late 70's. We learned Friday that he was also employed by Cleaning Solutions, and worked as a janitor for Signal Mountain Pediatrics.In 2006, he pleaded guilty to stealing $295 from the business' cash box.Flerl didn't report the incident to the county, so nobody knew about it until now. While there is a stringent process for new county hires, current employees aren't under as much scrutiny.We weren't aware that he had been arrested for this offense, and again, I think at the end of the day it was pleaded out so it was expunged from his record so there wasn't any way that we would've known about it, said Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger. Coppinger says those rules are now being looked at and will be changed.Meanwhile, we're still curious how the computers went unaccounted for over a year. You may remember, we tried to get the answer Thursday from administrator Becky Barnes.NewsChannel 9 Reporter: Who's in charge of the computers?Barnes: It might even depend on which department ordered them.NewsChannel 9 Reporter: It's a pretty cut and dry question, but if you don't want to answer, so why aren't you answering?'Spokesperson Abena Williams: It's not that we don't want to, it's just that this investigation is active.After showing her vague response to Mayor Coppinger, he said he is still confident in Barnes' ability to run the health department. I understand her body language because that is not the Becky Barnes I usually deal with, said Coppinger.Coppinger says the only place where Barnes went wrong was that she didn't report the missing computers soon enough. As soon as they were aware that the computers were missing, and we have made that change in policy, it will be reported to the Sheriff's Department, said Coppinger.Mayor Coppinger says he is ultimately responsible for computer inventory, although that still doesn't answer our question as to who is over inventory within the health department.By Natalie Jenereski