Former Gainesville city employee arrested following $1.5M fraud audit

GAINESVILLE, Ga. - A former municipal maintenance superintendent faces nearly 100 felony charges after an internal city audit exposed a multi-year embezzlement scheme totaling approximately $1.5 million. 

What we know:

Hall County Sheriff's Office deputies took Carl Timothy "Tim" Tench, 66, of Gainesville, into custody Friday on warrants issued by the Gainesville Police Department.

Police charged Tench with 33 felony counts of bid-rigging, 33 felony counts of forgery in the first degree, and 33 felony counts of filing false documents, bringing the total to 99 felony charges.

Tench gained release on bond from the Hall County Jail on Saturday.

Tench worked for the city for 14 years, starting as a maintenance operator in April 2012. He served as maintenance operator supervisor starting in November 2014 until a promotion in November 2019 to maintenance superintendent, a position he held until his firing on June 17.

The backstory:

City Manager Bryan Lackey stated that an internal audit this spring uncovered irregularities connected to HVAC purchases made through the Gainesville Department of Water Resources.

The audit revealed a pattern of bid-rigging and fraud within the municipal purchasing system, leading officials to terminate Tench and coordinate with police.

Investigators said Tench stole hundreds of thousands of dollars incrementally over several years by rigging equipment bids.

After securing low bids using a different identity and obtaining checks through legitimate but inflated purchase orders in city software, Tench used a fraction of the funds for the HVAC units and pocketed the rest.

What they're saying:

City Manager Bryan Lackey said officials discovered irregularities during an internal audit in the spring connected to HVAC purchases through the Department of Water Resources. 

"We began an internal investigation through which we uncovered a pattern of bid-rigging and fraud using the City’s purchasing system," Lackey said in a statement. "We took immediate action by terminating the employee and working with the Gainesville Police Department to build an evidence-heavy case resulting in an arrest." 

I'm glad they caught him and figured it all out," Gainesville resident Cindy Nivens said. "I feel violated by that. And I'm sure everyone in our city does." 

Another resident, Taylor Hanson, questioned how the alleged crime continued for so long. "I think it points more toward the leadership of how something like this could slide for so long, because obviously we're not talking about, you know, 10 bucks here and there, but like we're talking, you know, six figures, seven figures," Hanson said. 

By the numbers:

Investigators allege Tench rigged bids for equipment he bought for the city by securing low bids under a different identity. He then procured checks by submitting legitimate, but inflated purchase orders. 

Police say Tench used a portion of those checks to buy the HVAC units and pocketed the remaining difference from the $1.5 million total. 

What we don't know:

Reporters knocked on Tench's door to get his side of the story. When asked if he was Tim, he answered but said he was not interested in talking. 

City officials said they started a secondary audit of all departments in search of fraud and misconduct, but they currently have no findings to report. Officials said the investigation into Tench remains ongoing. 

What's next:

On top of its annual third-party financial audit, the city launched a secondary audit across all municipal departments to check for operational misconduct and fraud, yielding no findings so far.

Gainesville police noted that additional charges against Tench could be forthcoming as the investigation remains active and ongoing.

GainesvilleCrime and Public SafetyNews