Clay County deputy fired after arrest on organized fraud charge
GREEN COVE SPRINGS, Fla. Dec 12 2020– A longtime Clay County Sheriff’s Office deputy has been charged with organized fraud after investigators said they found he was falsifying time cards for his secondary employment.
Deputy Timothy James Bell, a 26-year veteran of the Sheriff’s Office, was fired after his arrest, Clay County Sheriff Michelle Cook announced Thursday.
Cook said the Sheriff’s Office got a tip from within the agency in late October and started looking into Bell’s secondary employment activity.
Cook explained that deputies often handle security and property checks in their off-duty hours for companies in Clay County and that these jobs are assigned by a secondary employment coordinator with the Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies are expected to log out of work at the Sheriff’s Office before they show up at work for the secondary job, Cook said.
Cook said covert surveillance of Bell set up after the tip found that at five secondary jobs assigned in November, Bell either never showed up or left hours early but still submitted time cards for the jobs. He cashed checks for those jobs totaling more than $1,350, Cook said.
Cook said investigators also found that Bell submitted time cards for Duval Asphalt and Fleming Island Plantation for overlapping hours on Nov. 1 — even though they’re on opposite ends of the county.
“It was not possible for Bell to be present at both at the same time,” Cook said.
“As disappointed as I am with Bell’s action which led to his arrest, I am just as proud to say that the information about his illegal activity also came from agency employees,” Cook added. “None of us want our badge to be tarnished by the misdeeds of others, and we understand the importance of public trust.”
