Restaurant Inspector Fired After Filing False Reports

Food sanitation supervisor Andre Pierce said the inspector did only a third of his inspections.

"You look at the grade card date versus the inspections that are on file and there's a discrepancy," Pierce said. "Then there's a red flag that something has happened."

Pierce believes that since July 2004, the inspector filed fake reports on about 130 restaurants. One restaurant, he said, actually was not inspected since March 2004.

He said officials realized the problem in June and they have since inspected every restaurant in the employee's territory.

They also took steps to make sure it does not happen again by conducting routine follow-up inspections, meaning a supervisor will randomly check behind inspectors.

The employee involved is no longer with the department.