A prosecutor said Tuesday that she plans to ask the Arkansas State Police to investigate the city of Searcy's information technology director, who was placed on leave last week until further notice.
Prosecuting Attorney Rebecca Reed McCoy said she would ask the state police to look into information the city has turned over regarding David Sawyers "in connection with the [Arkansas] Legislative Audit."
In an emailed statement, Searcy Mayor David Morris said Sawyers was being placed on leave with pay until further notice. Morris sent the statement Friday to some city employees and The Daily Citizen.
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette obtained a copy of the statement and Morris' letter to Sawyers under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act late Monday.
Sawyers was put on leave with pay "upon the advice of legal counsel," Morris said.
"All information that we have received and is available to us at this time has been conveyed to the office of the [17th] Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney and to the Arkansas Division of Legislative Audit," Morris wrote.
Morris said the city "fully intends to cooperate with all authorities, officials and agencies that may be involved regarding this unfortunate situation."
"The city has various safeguards and [check-and-balance] systems in place that possibly may have been breached," the mayor said.
The Daily Citizen reported that Sawyers was placed on leave after it met with him Thursday about the information technology department he directs. The newspaper reported this week that it had questioned the existence of Technology 1 Source, a company that the paper said Sawyers paid more than $38,000 to in 2016 and whose website was under construction. The site was still under construction Tuesday.
The Searcy newspaper said Sawyers was shown a document from scamadviser.com that indicated the Web domain www.technology1source.com was established Feb. 27. That was "the same day Sawyers had been made aware that The Daily Citizen would be looking at his transactions," the newspaper reported.
Sawyers said he could not explain that, according to The Daily Citizen. The newspaper said www.scamadviser.com also indicated the owner of the Technology 1 Source website was "'using a service to hide their identity.'"
The Democrat-Gazette could not reach Sawyers for comment by phone. The number listed for him in Searcy directory assistance is no longer connected.
Morris said the city attorney, Buck Gibson, has advised Morris not to comment further on the Sawyers matter.
In the Thursday letter to Sawyers, Morris told him to surrender all city-issued property, including "all administrator user names and passwords for any system" for the city.
"You are further instructed not to do anything or take any actions relating to or touching the City of Searcy's information technology until further notice," Morris wrote.
State Desk on 03/15/2017