BROOKSVILLE — A veteran Hernando County sheriff's lieutenant has resigned from the department rather than face criminal charges for falsifying his timecards.
Robert Libengood turned in his letter of resignation Friday, ending the State Attorney's Office investigation into charges that the lieutenant claimed 11 days of time — worth about $3,300 — for time that he didn't actually work.
"This is submitted for several reasons, to include my personal health," Libengood said in his letter. "I feel that it is best to take a respite from law enforcement, and pursue other career opportunities."
Libengood, 39, had worked at the Sheriff's Office since 1991.
The Sheriff's Office started an investigation into Libengood's time sheets in early August after one of his supervisors noticed several discrepancies, according to the investigation report. The supervisor, Major Alan Arick, said that he found 11 days where Libengood indicated that he was working when he was not, dating back to Jan. 1.
Arick also noted that Libengood did not submit the appropriate request for vacation or sick leave.
"There were 11 dates that I could not reconcile," Arick said during a Sept. 5 interview with internal investigators. "There were 11 days he showed that he worked and there was no activity."
Investigators noted that Libengood "had enough vacation time or sick time to cover the time off he had taken but did not complete the required leave request." The report was subsequently forwarded to prosecutors last month.
Assistant State Attorney Phil Hanson said his investigation led him to believe that he could not prove Libengood had intentionally falsified his time cards. Hanson also noted Libengood had told him and officials at the Sheriff's Office that he was going through "a very difficult time."
"Just because there are inaccurate entries on time sheets, that does not mean that a crime has been committed," Hanson said. "I characterize this as a discretionary decision by our office that we sometimes make in a difficult situation."
Once Libengood offered to resign, Hanson said he felt prosecution was no longer warranted.
Sheriff Richard Nugent called the prosecutor's decision "unusual" and said it was clear from the investigation that Libengood had not made a mistake on his time cards.
"Their response caught me off-guard," Nugent said Tuesday. "An accident is one or two times. But this was multiple times. And we only went back to Jan. 1."
Nugent said the department also turned down Libengood's request for a payment of 303 hours of accrued vacation time and 453 hours of sick time.
Joel Anderson can be reached at joelanderson@sptimes.com or (352) 754-6120.
[Last modified: Oct 09, 2008 03:15 PM]
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