Two MARTA employees were fired and a third was reprimanded after an internal investigation revealed they were using the agency’s audio/visual equipment for their own television studio productions.
The manager of Telephony Operations, Arnold Campbell, and a foreman of telephone maintenance, Anthony Pines, were borrowing cameras, tripods, microphones, a teleprompter and other equipment to create programming for a private television studio they co-own in Lithonia, according to internal investigation documents.
They were fired on June 15 for misuse of MARTA property. Derek Terry, who reported to Campbell in Telephony Operations, also admitted operating the camera for the private studio at Campbell’s request a few years ago. He was given a written reprimand. Dornell Coppage, a private contractor for MARTA’s Information Technology division, also edited content for the studio. Coppage’s contract was not renewed after it expired on June 30.
Investigative documents obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution via a Georgia Open Records Act request revealed that the unauthorized borrowing of equipment was common practice in the Telephony Operations department and that it had been going on for years.
The department is in charge of working on the phones and the public address systems, as well as cable and fiber installations and providing audio/video support at MARTA events.
An anonymous tipster brought the problem to light in a letter to MARTA management earlier this year.
Campbell and Pines told police they took audio/visual equipment from MARTA to a studio in a townhome Campbell owns. The studio was outfitted with a green screen and sound stage, which the employees used to produce shows on Comcast public access channel 26 devoted to “Urban Entertainment & Lifestyle.”
Their studio company is SpecialistsTV and their photography and production company is Jayr Grafx, according to MARTA police investigation records.
During a videotaped interview with MARTA police, Pines told investigators: “I do use it, but it’s very little stuff I use because MARTA doesn’t have the high-definition stuff we record with.”
He added, “When we finish, it comes right back.”
Campbell told investigators that he knew there was a general MARTA policy about personal use of agency equipment. But he said his employees often took home equipment that they might need later.
“I don’t see that as a problem,” Campbell said. “It’s like a laptop. We have a camera, we use the camera. We use the microphone and we bring it back. We’ve always done that.”
MARTA spokesman Lyle Harris said the agency has taken steps to prevent future misuse.
“Management has instructed staff about the use, responsibility and liability of all assigned MARTA equipment,” Harris said in an email. “MARTA will be conducting regular inventory of the audio and video assets.”
No equipment was believed to have been stolen, and no criminal charges were brought as a result of the investigation, Harris said.
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