County employee fighting firing over appliance theft

Jeff Schweers

Friday, Jan. 9, 1998 | 10:50 a.m.

A Clark County maintenance worker has been suspended without pay pending a termination hearing following his conviction for stealing a washer and dryer from Child Haven.

Eugene Smith was fired this week, after pleading no contest to one misdemeanor charge of petty theft and agreeing to pay a $750 fine -- the estimated cost of the washer and dryer.

General Services Director Earl Hawkes said the county felt the charges in Smith's case were job-related, even though two prior pre-termination hearings could not muster evidence that Smith actually stole the washer and dryer.

"If we're convinced someone stole from us, we'll take the strongest disciplinary action possible," said Hawkes, who oversees the county's facilities division.

Last year, another county maintenance worker, Richard Schotmuller, was fired after an audit found he had pilfered a $186 air conditioning unit from the county.

Hawkes said Smith has the right to appeal at a termination hearing. If the hearing officer reverses the firing, Hawkes said, "he returns to his job and the matter is closed."

If that happens, the misdemeanor charge won't affect Smith's chances for merit pay or job promotions, Hawkes said.

Smith said he's retained a lawyer specializing in labor relations and wrongful terminations.

Smith had pleaded innocent to the charges, offering evidence that Herda's Appliance owner Nick Herda had given Smith the appliances after writing them off as damaged goods.

"They've been trying to get me to take this plea bargain for six months," Smith said. "They knew they had no case, Nick Herda testified he gave me the washer and dryer."

But a year and $12,000 in legal fees later, Smith said he was bankrupt and ready to accept the district attorney's plea bargain to the lesser single count.

"What I was told by my attorney, and the way the district attorney put it, was that if I took this plea bargain my job would be OK and everything else," Smith said.

"I have irrefutable proof I did nothing wrong, but I couldn't afford to go to trial," Smith said, saying it would have cost an additional $10,000 and his wages are already attached to pay off his creditors.

Deputy District Attorney Valerie Adair said she offered Smith the reduced single charge because "there were some evidentiary problems in the case in order to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt."

"We had to rely on records that were not maintained by the county, but by Herda's," Adair said. "Their records were inconsistent. In order get conviction it was problematic."

Adair said her office had no originals of signed documents from Herda's and one set of copies differed from another.

"Additionally, Herda's claimed the washer and dryer may have been a gift," Adair said.

Regardless, Hawkes said, Smith was wrong to use his position as a buyer for the county for his own personal gain.