The former director of the Mark Twain Solid Waste Management District has been charged with felony stealing.
Fifty-three-year-old Drexel J. Rothweiler of Palmyra is accused of illegally taking more than $25,000 while he was executive director of the multi-county agency.
Arraignment is set for 1:30 p.m. Feb. 10 in Ralls County, where the charges were filed. Rothweiler is free on bond.
The district’s board fired Rothweiler in May 2007 after 12 years in the job when an audit allegedly found that he had taken without approval $55,000 more in salary than he was owed.
In a January 2008 Courier-Post interview, Rothweiler denied any wrongdoing and said he had accepted salary cuts several times to help with the district’s budget problems.
An investigation began after the Missouri Department of Natural Resources brought the matter to the attention of the Ralls County Sheriff’s Department, which contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The solid waste district covers Marion, Monroe, Macon, Pike, Ralls, Randolph and Shelby counties.
Its job is to assist in the reduction of local and regional solid waste, and funding comes from fees charged for disposals at landfills in the district.
DNR collects and distributes the money. Since Rothweiler’s departure, the agency has been managed by the Mark Twain Regional Council of Governments, which is based in Perry.
Court records show Rothweiler was ordered to pay $1,574.79 to Capital One Bank on June 19, 2009, and that the Department of Revenue filed a lien for $8,812.05 in taxes against Rothweiler on Jan. 7 of this year.
