KNOXVILLE (WATE) - A 20-year veteran of the city of Knoxville Traffic Engineering Department has been fired and charged with stealing city property.
David Neil Cox, of Clinton, was fired on July 31 from his position in the city sign shop on Elm Street.
A court affidavit says he was seen on surveillance video on Saturday, July 21 going in the empty shop on his day off and taking blank city signs.
On the same day, Cox sold 400 pounds of signs for $180 at Noble Metals in Oak Ridge and another 380 pounds of signs three days later for $171, according to the affidavit.
The city did an inventory and determined 106 blank signs were missing. They're worth $1,094.96 a piece.
Cox is charged with one count of felony theft between $1,000 and $9,999. He was booked into the Knox County Jail on a $4,000 bond.
David Neil Cox (source: Knox County Sheriff's Office)
