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February 4, 2012 in Region
Franklin County official arrested
Manager suspected of embezzlement
Dennis Huston makes a preliminary appearance Friday in Franklin Superior Court in Pasco.
(Full-size photo)
A Franklin County public works manager is under investigation for using a fake company to embezzle possibly $1 million.
Some money may have been used to support an alleged cocaine habit.
Dennis M. Huston, 65, director of accounting and administration for the Public Works Department, made a preliminary appearance in Benton Franklin Superior Court Friday. He is being held on $500,000 bail.
He served time in 1986 after a similar federal investigation in Montana on theft of government money, said Franklin County Prosecutor Shawn Sant.
He is being held now on investigation of first-degree theft, money laundering and possession of cocaine. He has not been charged.
He was one of nine county employees put on administrative leave Thursday as part of an investigation into the theft of public funds. He’s the only one on unpaid leave and the only one to be arrested.
Court documents filed Friday claim he used the name of a business, Critzer Equipment, that closed in 2001 to pay himself through false invoices.
When the company existed, he was not part of it but he opened bank accounts using that name and was listed as the sole proprietor, court documents said.
When he was arrested Thursday, he allegedly told Pasco detectives that he used the money to support his cocaine habit.
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liveinfearoftheSPD on February 04 at 10:55 p.m.
At 65 he has survived $1,000,000 in coke up his nose?