Former Maricopa community services director Marty McDonald was arrested Tuesday morning by Chandler Police officers at his home in The Lakes at Rancho El Dorado for two counts of forgery and one count of theft.

The charges were initiated by the Friends of the Maricopa Public Library and the city of Maricopa, according to the Chandler Police report, and alleges McDonald, through fraudulent means, stole nearly $8,000. Friends of the Maricopa Public Library is a non-profit organization that supports the Maricopa library and its programs.

The report states the first incident occurred in late August or early September 2008 when McDonald ordered $4,835 in miscellaneous promotional items for the Founders Day event. McDonald then presented a copy of one of his own checks showing payment for the items to the Friends of the Maricopa Public Library.

At the time, the organization had an account, which was used to pay for promotional items for parks and recreational activities. If a person purchased items for these activities through the organization from their personal account, they only needed to present a copy of the payment for reimbursement.

However, investigating officer Chandler Det. Robert Lenz said he contacted Wells Fargo Bank and found the check presented to Friends of the Maricopa Public Library, as proof of purchase, never cleared McDonald’s account. McDonald, according to the report, then authorized the city to make the payment to the promotional company less than two weeks after he received the check from the Friends of the Maricopa Public Library.

The report cites the second incident in January 2008 when McDonald allegedly ordered nearly $2,000 worth of fencing, and then modified the invoice to look like the cost was $3,000 and it had already been paid for with McDonald’s American Express card.

He presented the modified invoice to the Friends of the Maricopa Public Library for reimbursement and then sent the original to the city to be paid. Det. Lenz sent the alleged modified invoice to Matt Carbone, from the BSN Sports Collegiate Pacific, who confirmed it was modified.

McDonald’s lawyer, Clair Lane, contends McDonald paid for the items and committed no crime. “This is an attempt by the city to throw dirt on Marty due to the pending lawsuit we have against the city,” he said.

McDonald has long feuded with the city over his Aug. 7, 2009, termination. The city had placed him on administrative leave on May 6, one day before being indicted on two felony charges stemming for the alleged misuse of a city FedEx shipping discount used to mail goods. However, those charges were dropped when McDonald produced an e-mail showing he requested his personal FedEx account be removed from that of the city prior to doing any shipping.

On Oct. 14, McDonald filed a claim against the city asking for $500,000 in damages, $10,000 in attorney fees, a $25,000 check to the Friends of the Maricopa Public Library, and a letter of apology. “We have conducted sample juries that have resulted in a decision in upwards of $2.5 million, and that number could end up being higher,” Lane said at the time.

“When (city manager Kevin) Evans  first came on in 2008, Marty drafted a letter telling him about the FedEx issue, describing copies of e-mails he had and snapshots of computer screens taken,” Lane said in October. “However, these e-mails or letter were never provided to the investigator by the city.”

The city maintained McDonald was not let go because of the indictment, but Lane said he feels Roger Kolman, assistant city manager, had it out for his client. “Against internal advice from the Maricopa Police Department, Kolman called upon the Phoenix Police department to further investigate the situation,” Lane said.

At that time, Evans countered that it is commonplace to have outside organizations investigate internal issues. “Our last three investigations into city officials have all been handled by outside organizations,” he said.

McDonald raised the ante on Feb. 25, filing a lawsuit against the city of Maricopa alleging “malicious prosecution,” “abuse of process,” “negligence,” “intentional infliction of emotional distress,” and “invasion of privacy.”

“The city has all but ignored our original claim, so the next step was to file suit,” Lane said at the time of February filing.

In addition to the mishandling of information, Lane alleges after his client was found innocent of all charges, Kolman launched a second investigation into the misappropriate distribution of funds from Pinal County to the Friends of the Maricopa Public Library account by his client.

Chandler Police was called to investigate the new charges on Feb. 3 by Maricopa Finance Director Cynthia Sneed, who had been handed the information by Kolman. Kolman was originally approached with the information by the Friends of the Library president Lee Pierce.  Sneed said in the report that several transactions appeared suspicious after an audit of the Friends’ books.

McDonald was released after being questioned, and the charges were forwarded to the Pinal County Attorney’s Office for consideration.

Photo courtesy of Chandler Police Department