A now-former Winchester Fire Department employee is facing charges after fraudulently claiming overtime over the past 13 months.
In a release, Winchester Chief of Police Travis Thompson reports that Winchester Fire Department Chief Christopher Whiteley approached Thompson on Wednesday regarding potential fraudulent payroll by a WFD employee.
A self-initiated audit by WFD had revealed that the employee, Kenneth Ball, had claimed "a large of amount of overtime" and that he was "not actually at work when claiming the overtime."
According to Thompson, Ball provided a full confession during an interview by WPD, and was charged on Wednesday with one county of theft by deception of $10,000 or more. Ball also resigned from his position, effective immediately.
"The City of Winchester has zero tolerance for employees claiming fraudulent time and moved swiftly to do an internal investigation and bring this crime to justice," Thompson said in the release.
