A municipal employee in Princeton’s information technology (IT) department who was placed on paid administrative leave in July has quit his job, as Princeton police investigate the alleged improper disposal of government computers.
Anthony Guevarez voluntarily resigned, effective Aug. 13, municipal administrator Marc D. Dashield said on Aug. 20.
Dashield declined to say if Guevarez is cooperating with law enforcement in the investigation and he was not immediately able to say what reason Guevarez gave for leaving his position.
Guevarez, who was hired in 2015, was put on paid administrative leave from his $41,000 per year job as an IT tech on July 18.
On July 19, Robert McQueen, the chief information officer for the municipality, was also placed on paid leave, municipal officials have said.
At issue is the possible selling of town-owned computers. Municipal officials initially handled the matter administratively, but earlier this month they asked police to get involved.
“What’s being alleged is that (the computers) were improperly disposed of,” Dashield said of the equipment. “There are potential allegations they may have been … sold, but again, the investigation will let me know the details of that.”
“We want to get to the bottom of things,” Acting Mayor Lance Liverman said on Aug. 20. “We don’t know how long things were going on, what’s been going on.”
Without elaborating on the source of his information, Liverman said reports he had received tell him the town is “moving swiftly.”
“We really don’t know to what extent or where we are with this,” Liverman said. “We just have a basic idea and we see some things that may have occurred, but we need to see the big, big picture, because you never know.”
A police spokesman said on Aug. 21 there are “no developments” in the case.
So far, municipal officials have not released the number of computers that may have been involved or their value.
Dashield said officials have “no reason” to think sensitive government information might have been compromised.
“But again, the investigation is continuing,” he said.
McQueen remains on paid leave from his $112,000 per year job, Dashield said. McQueen has worked for Princeton since 1998.