Wake travel records turned over to prosecutor

RALEIGH — Wake County Manager David Cooke has turned over a packet of evidence to the Wake District Attorney’s Office for the possible prosecution of former recycling program manager Craig P. Wittig.

A spreadsheet included in the packet defines $29,509 of Wittig’s charges to a government credit card as “questionable,” including $8,143 in purchases for which the county may seek restitution. Purchases in this category include tickets to Disney World and a pass to Yellowstone National Park.

The spreadsheet, delivered Friday to the district attorney, also lists $1,694 in items Wittig bought that the county may seek to recover, such as clothing and a GPS navigation unit, with accessories.

In a cover letter accompanying the data, Cooke references an earlier meeting between staff in the county’s finance office with prosecutors.

“As stated earlier, we are interested in options that the county has to recover funds or property or take other legal action in this matter,” Cooke wrote.

Wittig was fired June 3 over his expenses for a two year period in which he took about 50 trips at county expense, including a whale watching cruise off the coast of Maine and hiking trips in several state and national parks.

Wittig has said he did nothing wrong and that all of the trips and purchases were approved by his boss. James S. Reynolds, the former solid waste division director and Wittig’s direct supervisor, resigned July 8.

The packet turned over by Cooke did not include the purchases made by five employees who worked under Wittig’s supervision who accompanied him on some of the trips. All told, Wittig and five subordinates racked up $161,233 in travel costs and other expenses to credit cards issued by Wake County and paid for with public money.