July 8, 2024
By: Dwayne Page
Two men including a former DeKalb County Solid Waste Department truck driver accused of stealing and selling for personal gain scrap metal collected at the county’s convenience sites and transfer station over a 20-month period were named in a sealed indictment returned by the grand jury last week.
50-year-old Johnny Moore Eschman of Church Road, Lancaster and 46-year-old Derek Russell Fann of Gunter Hollow Road, Woodbury were indicted on charges of theft of property over $2,500 and Eschman for official misconduct. Bond for Eschman is $50,000 and $25,000 for Fann. They were arrested on July 2.
Eschman, who worked for DeKalb County, and Fann, an employee for Capital Waste, a company contracted with the county to operate the county’s transfer station will be arraigned in DeKalb County Criminal Court on July 23.
Counts 1 & 3 of the indictment allege that between the dates of September 1, 2022 and May 15, 2024 Eschman did unlawfully and knowingly, while acting as a public servant, commit an offense with intent to obtain a benefit by theft and did obtain or exercise control over property, including but not limited to scrap materials valued at over $2,500 belonging to DeKalb County with intent to deprive the owner thereof and without the owner’s effective consent.
Count 2 of the indictment alleges that between the dates of November 29, 2023 and May 15, 2024 Fann did unlawfully and knowingly obtain or exercise control over property, including but not limited to scrap materials valued at over $2,500 belonging to DeKalb County with intent to deprive the owner thereof and without the owner’s effective consent.
County Mayor Matt Adcock, in a prepared statement, said Eschman has been terminated and Fann no longer works at the solid waste transfer station
“There was a report that a DeKalb County Solid Waste Employee and an employee of Capital Waste had been stealing metal materials from the County convenience sites and Transfer Station. The District Attorney’s Office was notified of the possible violation. During the investigation the District Attorney Office found reasonable suspicion of the accounts that were reported. One employee was an employee of DeKalb County Solid Waste and one employee was an employee of Capital Waste, which is the company that DeKalb County contracts with to operate the Transfer Station,” said County Mayor Adcock.
“Capital Waste is responsible for the waste that is collected and removed from the Transfer Station to another landfill outside of DeKalb County. The DeKalb County Government is responsible for collecting the trash in the county and bringing it to the Transfer Station. The DeKalb County employee was a truck driver for the Solid Waste Department. The Capital Waste employee was a loader operator that loaded trash into a shipping trailer,” County Mayor Adcock explained
“After the investigation was completed, the DeKalb County employee was questioned on the accounts that had been made against him. The employee confessed that he did indeed steal the metal for personal gain. After thoroughly reviewing evidence in the investigation and the confession of the employee himself, the employee was immediately terminated. The Capital Waste employee no longer works at the DeKalb County Transfer Station. DeKalb County does recycle metal for profit to offset the cost of the operation. DeKalb County profited $82,885 from the sale of recyclable metal in 2023, our last audited number. As you can see this is a significant area of funding for the County Government,” said County Mayor Adcock.
“The DeKalb County Government holds a high standard of expectation and accountability. Theft is something that is not now nor ever will be tolerated in or by DeKalb County. We must be good stewards of the county’s money and assets,” Adcock concluded.
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