Former City of Tucson Transportation employees Kurt Hough and Bobby Palomarez were indicted by a Pima County Grand Jury on multiple felony counts including Fraud, Theft, and Criminal Enterprise, on Monday, September 17.
Arraignment for both is scheduled for September 25, 2012.
These indictments are part of an ongoing criminal investigation involving the City of Tucson Transportation Department. The Tucson Police Department worked in concert with the Arizona Attorney General’s Office.
On August 28, Tucson Mayor Jonathan Rothschild announced the the termination of several Tucson transportation department employees including Hough and Palomarez, saying that accountability and responsiveness will be a hallmark of his administration.
The Mayor could not comment on the Notices of Termination issued at the time due to the “need to honor the City’s Civil Service Rules as well as federal law, which provide that the employees in question have rights to a pre-discharge meeting before any discipline is final.”
Rothschild did say that the terminations should send a message that “wrongful conduct will not be tolerated by any City of Tucson employee in any department.”
Hough, the City of Tucson’s streets administrator, had been on administrative leave for over nine months. Hough was paid $33.95 an hour during that time.
Tucson Police had investigated whether city street maintenance workers improperly used city equipment and resources for personal gain. They investigated city employees suspected of using city equipment and materials on freelance jobs.