A Baltimore County Public Works supervisor misused a county vehicle to visit a sick, elderly relative during work hours 141 times in 16 months, according to an oversight report released Tuesday.

The investigation by Baltimore County Inspector General Kelly Madigan found the supervisor remained at the relative’s home for over an hour without taking any form of leave on 61 occasions. It also said managers within the county’s Bureau of Engineering and Construction failed to monitor GPS data that is equipped on all county vehicles, despite an expectation that they do so.

The supervisor is no longer a county employee, according to County Administrator D’Andrea Walker’s written response to the report.

The investigation found that between March 2022 and June 2023, the supervisor drove to a residence in Parkville that “had nothing to do with the Supervisor’s official duties or responsibilities” on about 42% of workdays.

When questioned by the inspector general’s office, the supervisor admitted they were visiting an immediate family member who became ill in late 2022 and has since died. A manager knew the supervisor would pick up mail or drop off food to the relative, but was unaware of the frequency or duration of the visits, which were tracked by the vehicle’s GPS equipment.

The supervisor, who was not identified in the report, remained at the residence for extended periods on numerous occasions, including 15 times for two or more hours. The longest visit was 5 hours, 37 minutes. The supervisor did not request leave for those visits despite having hundreds of hours of vacation time and thousands of hours of sick leave.

While the supervisor said they responded to emails and reviewed documents on their cell phone, the report stated, “there was no evidence to support that any meaningful work was being performed by the Supervisor during these extended visits.”

The supervisor denied “stealing time” from the county but “was apologetic for their actions and asked how they could ‘make it right’ with the county,” the report added.

The supervisor had been assigned a county vehicle since 2005 and was aware that it was equipped with GPS tracking. The report said the county uses GPS to ensure its vehicles are operated within established guidelines.

Every agency is responsible for monitoring GPS data on county vehicles. But the investigation found nobody within the engineering division was reviewing the data on the approximately 12 employees assigned a vehicle. The supervisor’s manager said they did not have a username for the GPS data system and had never logged into it.

Madigan recommended a review of how agencies across county government are using GPS data, noting that this was the third report her office has issued regarding vehicle misuse.

Walker, the county administrator, said managers within the engineering division were being provided access to the GPS data system, and employees received “special emphasis” on proper vehicle use in September 2024.