Ex-Youngsville supervisor faces embezzlement, larceny charges
The son of Youngsville's former town administrator faces accusations that he used town property for his own benefit and that his mother knew about it, according to the town police chief.
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Joey Patterson, who was the town's streets and maintenance supervisor, was charged late Thursday with obtaining property by false pretenses, larceny by employee and two counts of embezzlement.
Town commissioners fired Patterson and his mother, Brenda Robbins, Thursday amid the criminal investigation by Youngsville police. Both had worked for the town for more than a decade.
Chief Daren Kirts said that Patterson's charges involve taking crushed gravel owned by the town and trashing personal belongings at the town dump at the town's expense. Patterson also used town equipment, including tractors and dump trucks, for his personal use while on the clock, the police chief said.
Kirts said that Robbins was aware of her son's activities and that he has receipts documenting that she knew what was going on.
His investigation covered two months, but former employees told investigators that this activity had been going on for six years, Kirts said.
The police chief said it would be a conflict of interest for him to charge Robbins, since she was his boss until Thursday. He asked Franklin County District Attorney Sam Currin and the State Bureau of Investigation to investigate her.
Both Currin and SBI spokeswoman Noelle Talley said they declined to investigate Robbins because there was insufficient evidence to implicate her.
Robbins declined to comment on the case, and Patterson hasn't returned a phone call.
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