BOISE COUNTY -- A former Boise County Emergency Manager is now accused of stealing thousands of dollars from the county by double-dipping on pay. This comes after financial struggles for that county, including needing to pay millions on a lost lawsuit from years ago.
Former county emergency manager Gordon Ravenscroft has just recently been charged with felony grand theft, but he previously sued the county commissioners saying he's the one out money.
In a recently-filed criminal complaint, prosecutors say Boise County is out a total of $64,513.88 because Ravenscroft was being paid double for his services. Ravenscroft is now charged with 5 counts of felony grand theft and is accused of stealing from the county from June 2007-December 2010 by using a ghost company to double bill.
Boise County Commissioners fired Ravenscroft last year. In other court papers from a separate case, the commissioners say the reason he was terminated was because they discovered he was both being paid as an employee and billing the county under the name of consulting company MCL Consulting, LLC. The county further says it did not know Ravenscroft was related to the company.
In Ravenscroft's lawsuit against the county, he claims the county did know he operated MCL. He claims the county owes him money in the form of regular employee wages it promised to pay him but never did. That case remains in federal court.
Another lawsuit Ravenscroft has filed against the county, a wrongful termination claim, is currently in the state Supreme Court.
As for the new grand theft charges against him, the prosecutor says things could take awhile. There are roughly 2,000 pieces of evidence for Ravenscroft and his attorney to examine before things move ahead.
At this stage, Ravenscroft has yet to enter a plea. KTVB spoke with Ravenscroft's attorney, and she said he didn't want to make any comments.
