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William Howard turned himself in to police on Thursday, Feb. 25, and charged with 32 counts of forgery following a three-month investigation into irregularities regarding vendor bids in Norwalk, authorities said.
Howard was a seasonal employee with the City of Norwalk with no access to city accounts or funds, said Norwalk PD Lt. Joe Dinho.
The bids in question date back to at least 2007. They were discovered in late 2020 following changes in personnel and reporting structure within the Recreation and Parks Department, Dinho said.
As soon as city staff noticed discrepancies in documents and receipts, they immediately contacted the Norwalk Police Department for investigation.
Due to the statute of limitations, investigators were able to proceed with charges for incidents that occurred within the last five years.
“These allegations represent a severe breach of the public’s trust and are in no way indicative of the overall workforce of the City of Norwalk," said Norwalk Mayor Harry Rilling. " "Professionalized restructuring of City Hall helped bring these alleged actions to light. I applaud the efforts of our staff in Recreation and Parks for taking immediate action and contacting the Norwalk Police Department as soon as they noticed something wasn’t right,”
Due to the ongoing nature of the investigation, no further information was released at this time.
Howard, age 70, of Norwalk, was released on a $100,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in court in April.
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