Police search for stolen units
Published 12:00 am Friday, July 19, 2002
Messenger Publisher
The investigation into the scope of possible theft from the Pike County Board of Education is "time-consuming," said the Troy Police Chief.
"The average person has no idea how much time goes into this," Police Chief Anthony Everage said Thursday. "We’ve been working non-stop since Friday, and I’ve just authorized my people to work through the weekend."
Police are trying to determine just how many air conditioning units were apparently ordered and billed to the Pike County Board of Education, then resold through a private company.
The district’s maintenance supervisor, Timothy Dwayne Spivey, 43, of Troy, has been arrested and charged with first degree theft. He is accused of ordering at least 10 air conditioning units through the district then reselling them through his private business, City Electric Co. He has been released on $5,000 bond.
Both Spivey and his brother and fellow maintenance employee Johndi Spivey, have been placed on administrative leave, according to
Superintendent John Key.
Everage said authorities have subpoenaed business records dating to 1996 from Montgomery vendors who apparently sold air conditioning units to the Pike County School Board.
"I feel like we’ll be subpoenaing other records as the need arises, possibly from other business," Everage said, adding that the records could contain information pertinent to the case.
Once officials obtain the purchase records from the school district, they can identify the location of possibly stolen property.
District Attorney Mark Fuller said Wednesday detectives were "in the process of trying to ID the units the school (district) has purchased and track them down."
Everage and Fuller have said the extent of the alleged theft could extend well beyond the 10 units cited in the original warrant.
"This has been going on for easily more than two years," Fuller said Wednesday.
Law enforcement officials are asking any residents who purchased units from City Electric Co. since 1996 to contact the detectives. "We need to ID those units," Fuller said.
He said Wednesday that authorities are not seeking at this point to remove those units, only to identify them. "It’s not my intention to take anybody’s air conditioning out of the house when it’s 106 degrees outside."
Anyone with information or concerns can reach the police department at 334-566-0500.
"The police department has been extremely helpful," Fuller said. "They dropped everything (to conduct this investigation) and they have been very helpful in assigning investigators. And, the (Pike County) Sheriff’s Department has offered to help as well
there could be a need to track down air-conditioners all over the county."