A Putnam County man is facing criminal charges for allegedly posing as a project manager and engineer and pocketing more than $33,000.
Ronald Brown is accused of passing himself off as the project manager for the Putnam County Animal Care and Control facility, as well as a certified engineer. Both claims, investigators say, are false.
Brown now faces felony charges of theft and deception for pocketing $33,000 that should have gone to vendors for work to bring the shelter up to code.
"When somebody comes to a commissioner's meeting and says, gee, I'd like to help, in a small community we take you at your word," said Tim Bookwalter, Putnam County Prosecutor. "We trust people. And in today's world, you can't trust a lot of folks."
Officials say Brown's deception delayed the planned opening of the shelter by months. It's now reopened on a limited basis, only taking cases of extreme hardship.
The newly elected Putnam County Sheriff and his staff said they noticed irregularities when they took office and requested a state police investigation of the shelter.
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