City worker found not guilty in scrap-metal case

A Cape Girardeau County jury took less than 15 minutes Friday to find Cape Girardeau city employee Travis Friga not guilty of receiving stolen property.

Friga, 32, was one of four members of the city's traffic operations crew accused in January of taking scrap metal and batteries from the public works department, selling them to recycling businesses and splitting the proceeds.

Austin Carver, Geoffrey Dial and former traffic operations manager Robert Kutak -- who no longer work for the city -- all were charged with receiving stolen property.

Carver and Kutak pleaded guilty earlier this year. Dial's case is set for trial in August.

Friga reported the theft to public works director Tim Gramling in November after Kutak instructed him to recycle some new materials that hadn't even been unwrapped.

In court Friday, Friga -- who still works for the city -- said he hadn't realized they were doing anything illegal until that day.

About once a month, Kutak sent out Friga and Carver to recycle used materials, including old signs, sign posts and traffic-signal batteries, Friga testified.

He said the men would deliver the materials, and Carver would bring back a receipt and cash, which Kutak then divided up, giving Friga $10 to $15 each time.

The first time it happened, Friga assumed it was standard procedure, he said.

"We were just in our office. ... Bob walks in and just nonchalantly says, 'This is for you for this morning' and just handed us some cash," he said. "Nobody made a big deal of it or tried to be sneaky about it."

Carver -- who is engaged to Kutak's daughter -- testified he and Friga tried to avoid detection on their recycling trips, taking back roads and shutting off the radio in the truck to disable the GPS device used to track public works vehicles.

Friga disputed that, saying the only time he noticed Carver had disabled the GPS was after he reported the situation to Gramling.

Friga said they drove a marked city truck, wore shirts bearing the city's logo and delivered the materials for recycling during regular business hours.

"There was no red flags at that point for me," he said. "It seemed very legit."

That changed Friday, Nov. 1, when Kutak sent Friga to recycle some new materials, Friga said.

"We were doing our cleanup that we always did, and we had some sign posts that had been ordered but had not been used," he said. "Bob ... said, 'Oh, by the way, when you get all the junk loaded, I want you to make these disappear, too.'"

Carver went home early that day but called Friga later to tell him to remove the plastic bands holding the posts together so it wouldn't be obvious they were new, Friga said.

Friga did as he was told but "felt sick about it," he said.

He took his concerns -- and a check -- to Gramling's home two days later, on a Sunday.

He seemed "visibly upset" and tried to return his share of the money on the spot, Gramling testified.

In opening arguments Friday, assistant prosecuting attorney Frank Miller noted Friga made another recycling trip Nov. 15, nearly two weeks after his conversation with Gramling.

But Gramling said Friga was acting on his instructions.

"I told him to hold on to the money and ... basically told him to act normal for this time, because he did express to me that he was afraid of retaliation from his supervisor and other employees," he testified.

Gramling and city manager Scott Meyer turned the case over to the Cape Girardeau Police Department to investigate.

Kutak testified he divided the money equally among the four men, with each person receiving about $100, but Detective Don Perry of the Cape Girardeau Police Department said in court Friday he found more than $2,200 worth of transactions with Sides Metal Recycling and Ellis Battery between February 2013 and Nov. 1.

Less than half those transactions -- about $1,024 worth -- took place after Friga joined the traffic division, Perry said in court Friday.

Friga estimated he received about $100 over the course of several months. Gramling said after the investigation was complete, he accepted a $125 check from Friga to reimburse the city for the money he had received.

Defense attorney Bryan Greaser asked Friga why he paid more than he owed.

"There were no receipts, so I was just estimating on the high end just to be safe," Friga replied.

Miller suggested Friga's guilty conscience had led him to return the money he'd been accepting for months.

"He's asking for special treatment -- hold him [to a] different [standard] because he told on everyone else," Miller said. "... In life, we must deal with the consequences of our choices that we make. ... Here we have a defendant that's trying to skirt responsibility for his act."

Greaser took issue with that, characterizing Friga as a heroic whistleblower who saved the city money by reporting the theft as soon as he understood what was going on.

"If he would have kept his mouth shut, he would have never been sitting in front of this jury today," Greaser said after the trial.

He said a guilty verdict could have frightened future whistleblowers into silence.

"A verdict convicting him would effectively send a message that doing the right thing should never be rewarded and that if a person becomes privy to what they learn to be criminal conduct, that they should consider the consequences of reporting it first," Greaser said.

epriddy@semissourian.com

388-3642