Hundreds of thousands of dollars down the drain. <\/p>\n
KPRC 2 Investigates reporter Amy Davis<\/a> is uncovering years of alleged theft right under the noses of city leaders.<\/p>\n Higher-ranking Houston Public Works employees signed off on purchases paid for with tax dollars.<\/p>\n After years of investigating Houston\u2019s water department in \u2018DRAINED\u2019<\/a>, we\u2019re back because what we found shows Public Works leaders are still struggling to ferret out the fraud draining all of us.<\/p>\n Inside Houston\u2019s McKinney Warehouse: How City Tools Were Allegedly Stolen<\/p>\n KPRC 2 Investigates exposes an alleged Houston Public Works fraud scheme in which higher-ranking employees approved hundreds of thousands of dollars in questionable, taxpayer-funded tool purchases, raising serious concerns about oversight and waste. (Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n When Houston Public Works crews need tools or supplies, they request them from the department\u2019s McKinney warehouse. Through multiple public information requests, we obtained records showing all the tools a maintenance manager received from the warehouse since 2022.<\/p>\n Houston Public Works employees accused of using city cards to buy, resell tools. KPRC2 tracked $346,000 in duplicate tool purchases. (Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)City-Issued Credit Card Abuse: $346,000 in Duplicate Tool Purchases<\/p>\n At the same time, our investigation found the same manager used his city-issued credit card to buy tens of thousands of dollars of identical tools from Home Depot and Lowe\u2019s \u2014 purchases totaling $346,537.94, according to the credit card statements obtained by the station.<\/p>\n Houston Public Works employees accused of using city cards to buy, resell tools. KPRC2 tracked $346,000 in duplicate tool purchases. (Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n \u201cThere was a scheme, a couple of employees that we\u2019re aware of that, for a series of years, were using a P-Card to make purchases of tools and then selling those tools on their own and pocketing the money,\u201d said Randy Macchi, Houston Public Works director.<\/p>\n Records and social media posts reviewed by the station show that at least one employee listed three new Milwaukee drill sets for sale online, advertising an original price of $700 and selling them for $450.<\/p>\n Credit card statements reveal the same employee had purchased the same drill set 190 times since December 2022.<\/p>\n Former Houston Public Works Employee Questioned on Missing Tools<\/p>\n Amy Davis asked that man, \u201cWhere did all those tools go?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTo employees,\u201d the man replied.<\/p>\n When Davis pointed out the lack of paperwork to corroborate his story, the man told her on camera, \u201cIf you want to speak to me, you\u2019ve got to remove the camera.\u201d<\/p>\n Houston Maintenance Manager Pulled Off Duty Amid Fraud AllegationsKPRC 2 Investigates exposes an alleged Houston Public Works fraud scheme in which higher-ranking employees approved hundreds of thousands of dollars in questionable, taxpayer-funded tool purchases, raising serious concerns about oversight and waste. (Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n We aren\u2019t revealing the man\u2019s name because he hasn\u2019t been criminally charged. We can tell you that the Public Works maintenance manager has worked for the city since 2016, rising through the ranks from utility worker to maintenance manager. Nine days after we requested documents about his card purchases and the disposition of the tools, the city sent him home on what it called \u201crelief of duty.\u201d<\/p>\n A city letter dated Sept. 12 informed the employee he would not be allowed to work but would continue to receive full pay and benefits while the city investigated allegations against him. <\/p>\n KPRC 2 Investigates exposes an alleged Houston Public Works fraud scheme in which higher-ranking employees approved hundreds of thousands of dollars in questionable, taxpayer-funded tool purchases, raising serious concerns about oversight and waste. (Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n Davis questioned Houston Public Works director Randy Macchi about how the employee was able to buy so many tools without anyone questioning him.<\/p>\n This employee had the signature of his supervisor,\u201d Davis told Macchi.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah- That\u2019s exactly right,\u201d Macchi replied.<\/p>\n Macchi told 2 Investigates there would be accountability. \u201cThere will be accountability all across the board,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Supervisors Under Scrutiny: Who Approved Questionable P-Card Purchases?<\/p>\n The city\u2019s protocol requires supervisors to approve and sign off on their subordinates\u2019 P-card purchases. KPRC2 found supervisors had signed many of the purchases now under scrutiny.<\/p>\n Law Enforcement Investigation: Houston Tool Theft Case Referred to Police<\/p>\n Two accused employees resigned months after the city\u2019s Office of Inspector General opened an investigation. The city referred the allegations to law enforcement and said police are actively investigating.<\/p>\n Houston Public Works employees accused of using city cards to buy, resell tools. KPRC2 tracked $346,000 in duplicate tool purchases. (Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n \u201cI would say he certainly was not cleared of any wrongdoing. There\u2019s a pretty good record here, at least from the city\u2019s files, that what he did was wrong. The allegations were sustained. Again, that\u2019s why we\u2019ve referred it over to law enforcement,\u201d said Macchi.<\/p>\n What\u2019s Next: KPRC 2 Investigates Ongoing Fraud, Waste, and Abuse in Houston Public Works<\/p>\n KPRC2 will continue seeking additional answers about how the alleged fraud persisted and whether internal controls will be tightened to prevent future loss.<\/p>\n Have a news tip? Email Reporter Amy Davis at ADavis@kprc.com<\/a> or Producer Andrea Slaydon at ASlaydon@kprc.com.<\/a><\/p>\n Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hundreds of thousands of dollars down the drain. KPRC 2 Investigates reporter Amy Davis is uncovering years of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":191653,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56536,56,58,57,19293],"class_list":["post-191652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-drained","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news","tag-houston-public-works"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191652\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}