Jackson Free Press

Two men have been charged with embezzlement for water theft.

Mayor Tony Yarber said before tonight's Jackson City Council the public-works employees were arrested earlier today.

Marcus Banks, 35, is charged with felony embezzlement of $14,000 in water that he never paid for going back to 2008.

Percy Watkins, 48, is charged with misdemeanor embezzlement because authorities have not been able to determine the value of the water he is accused of stealing.

Both men worked for the Water and Sewer Business Administration, a division of the Department of Public Works, officials said.

An independent consultant reviewed the finances of the City's water department earlier this year and found the possibility of rampant fraud in the WSBA. The findings of that report led to an investigation of the Jackson City Council, which remains ongoing.

Yarber said more arrests could be coming, possibly of between 20 and 30 individuals. Those people, along with Banks and Watkins, would face termination.

In addition, the City has received complaints of public-works workers "hooking it up as we say on Wood Street," Jackson police Chief Lee Vance said later, at the council meeting.

"They were the low people on the totem pole until you start messing with older folks. You're a vulture at that point," Yarber said during tonight's city council meeting.

Vance said strong indicators exist that the behavior is widespread and been ongoing for years.