Travel logs indicate State Auditor Beth Wood used state-owned car after state asked her not to
New documents indicate that State Auditor Beth Wood drove a state-owned car in the days and weeks after she was slapped with a hit-and-run charge -- and continued using the car even after the state discouraged her from doing so.
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New documents indicate that State Auditor Beth Wood drove a state-owned car in the days and weeks after she was slapped with a hit-and-run charge — and continued using the car even after the state discouraged her from doing so.
State vehicle travel logs obtained by WRAL News show that Wood logged miles in a state-owned Toyota Camry starting as early as Dec. 12 — the day she was charged following a Dec. 8 crash in which she was driving a different state-owned car.
Signatures, handwriting and other details on the logs, such as destinations and addresses, indicate that Wood regularly logged miles in the undamaged Camry through the end of January, including on Jan. 24 — the day the state’s Motor Fleet Management director notified Wood that the division had temporarily revoked her crashed car while an investigation continued into the crash.
“You are discouraged from driving any other state-owned vehicle during this investigative period,” Robert Riddle, the motor fleet management director, wrote in a letter to Wood obtained by WRAL News through a public records request. The division didn’t prohibit her from driving state-owned cars.
The logs released indicate that the car was delivered to the auditor on Dec. 12 and that Wood used the car to get to speaking engagements, home, the office, doctor’s appointments, church on a Sunday and other destinations. In some of the logs, another auditor in Wood’s office is listed as the person responsible for the vehicle. But most of the entries appear to be filled out, signed or initialed by Wood. One page of the logs, detailing use from Dec. 26 to Jan. 5, lists Wood as the driver.
The Department of Administration's motor fleet division requires that logs for permanently assigned vehicles be filled out daily or by trip when the vehicle is in use. It's unlawful to use state-owned vehicles for private purposes, according to the the division.
A spokeswoman for Wood didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment late Wednesday. The Office of the State Auditor provided the travel logs Wednesday after Axios Raleigh first reported on them. A spokesman for the auditor’s office didn’t immediately respond to questions about the logs.
The state said last month the towing and repairs to the car Woods wrecked in the Dec. 8 incident totaled about $7,700, and that it wouldn’t be reassigned to her until after the investigation. The 2021 sedan had been assigned to her in April 2021.
A spokeswoman for the state Department of Administration, which manages the motor fleet division, said Jan. 27 that the state hadn’t assigned Wood another state vehicle. Spokespeople from the administration department didn't immediately respond to questions late Wednesday about the logs.
Wood is due in court next month on a misdemeanor charge of hit-and-run resulting in property damage after the crash. It happened on Salisbury Street near Hargett Street in downtown Raleigh.
State employees who are assigned state-owned vehicles are expected to abide by rules and regulations outlined by the motor fleet management division. “The same rules and regulations apply to all drivers of state-owned vehicles regardless of the employee’s position,” the administration department said in an email last month.
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