Is anyone honest around here

A city employee faces charges for using his job to steal cars and make money. Code enforcement officer Chad Frye was arrested and fired Monday morning when he showed up for work.

It was part of Frye's job to check on abandoned vehicles. Police say when he'd get a call to check on one, he'd show up, and report the vehicle gone. Then he'd call a friend to tow it and cash in when the vehicle was scrapped for metal.

Emily Mack with Code enforcement says the scheme worked until a woman called about her car.

"In this particular case we had no record of this vehicle being towed. In our data management system it said the vehicle was gone on arrival. When in fact the citizen was very adamant that the inspector had her vehicle towed," Mack said.

Code enforcement got the call about the missing car in mid-November. The office thought it was suspicious and called police. Undercover officers followed Frye to find out exactly what was going on. They say the vehicles were taken to a scrap yard on South Tibbs Avenue and Frye was getting some of the money for the metal scrap. So far officials have discovered nine to 10 vehicles involved.

Frye is facing charges for theft, official misconduct and corrupt business influence.

Lt. Jeff Duhamell with IMPD says Frye was pocketing between $20 and $50 per vehicle.

"It appears in the case maybe he was becoming more brazen in his actions and thought he was going to get away with it. And he wasn't. And we knew about it so we let a few of those incidence and followed up on to strengthen our case," Lt. Duhamell said.

Lt. Duhamell says the investigation is ongoing, "He violated that trust and the mayor's not going to tolerate that kind of behavior and he was immediately fired."

Mack says the checks and balances of code enforcement allowed them to see exactly what was going on pretty quickly. She says this type of behavior is very unusual for her office, "Possessing integrity is an absolute requirement."

Frye joined code enforcement in April 2009. He had previously worked for the city in other offices, as well.