New Charges Filed Against Shawn Hatchett
Former Town of Rogersville Superintendent and Hawkins County Board of Education Contractor Received Pay for Work He Did Not Perform
The Tennessee Comptroller’s Office has released a second investigation involving Shawn Hatchett, the former superintendent of the Town of Rogersville Water Department and contractor for the Hawkins County Board of Education. This investigation has resulted in additional charges against Hatchett.
Hatchett was contracted as a certified operator for the Hawkins County Board of Education and fraudulently claimed and received $64,800 in fees between April 8, 2011 and December 12, 2017. Investigators found that Hatchett did not perform the work he was paid to do.
Hatchett was contracted to conduct required tests for wastewater treatment systems at various schools in Hawkins County. After performing the tests, he was responsible for filling out reports to document the test results.
Hatchett documented that he performed the tests at the Town of Rogersville sewer treatment plant laboratory. However, Town of Rogersville employees at the sewer treatment plant told Comptroller investigators that samples from the schools had not been tested at their facility. Additionally, no logs, notes, or records documenting that Hatchett had used the sewer treatment plant’s laboratory were found.
On August 20, 2018, the Hawkins County Grand Jury indicted Hatchett on one count of theft over $60,000, one count of forgery, and 55 counts of Violation of the Water Pollution Control Act.
This comes after the Comptroller’s Office released its first investigation involving Hatchett and the Town of Rogersville Water Department in April 2018, which resulted in Hatchett being indicted by the Hawkins County Grand Jury on one count of theft of property over $250,000, one count of theft of property over $60,000, and one count of official misconduct.
If you suspect fraud, waste or abuse of public money in Tennessee, call the Comptroller’s toll-free hotline at (800) 232-5454, or file a report online at: www.comptroller.tn.gov/hotline. Follow us on Twitter: @TNCOT
Media contact: John Dunn, Public Information Officer, 615.401.7755 or john.dunn@cot.tn.gov
Related Links: