Fired Palm Coast Golf Course Director Accused Of Fraud

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Tim Spangler, courtesy of the City of Palm Coast

Palm Coast, FL - He's accused of pocketing checks that parents had made out to pay for a summer camp.

Then, city officials decided to fire him.

That's the story for former Palm Harbor Golf Club Director, Tim Spangler, following an internal investigation carried out by the City of Palm Coast.

According to the city's investigation, three checks were made out to Spangler by families in order to pay for a golfing camp run at the Palm Harbor Golf Club back in June of 2018.

Each of those checks were made out to Spangler and said, in the memo, the checks were meant for the golf club. The total of all three checks came out to $670.

Those checks were then deposited into his personal account.

Spangler said that the checks were deposited into his account because he had written personal checks to the city to cover the costs. Out of fear that they would bounce, he put the other three checks in his account.

However, the city said they never saw any of the checks.

On February 1st, 2019, the city officially placed Spangler on paid administrative lead while they investigated the "financial irregularities" at Palm Harbor.

Spangler was requested by the city not to discuss the investigation with anyone, including his staff.

But, the city said they received reports that Spangler had contacted numerous employees at the gold course and, in at least one instance, asked an employee to not be truthful with the investigation team.

It was then that the city decided to recommend he be terminated, eventually following through with the decision on February 12th.

On February 15th, Spangler filed an appeal against his termination, saying that the grounds of his dismissal were unfair.

Just 10 days later, the city responded to Spangler, saying that they were upholding the decision to fire him.

A release from Cindi Lane, the Communications and Marketing Manager for Palm Coast, says that even though Spangler has since been fired, the investigation is still open and ongoing.

Spangler was originally hired by the city back in August of 2017.

Photo of Spangler and all documents are courtesy of the City of Palm Coast.