AHOSKIE – A former employee with the Ahoskie Public Works Department faces 24 felony counts after allegedly using a town-issued gas card for his personal use.

Ricky Maurice Raynor, 49, of West First Street was arrested Jan. 29 by the Ahoskie Police Department. He stands charged with eight felony counts each of larceny by an employee, obtaining property by false pretense, and embezzlement by a government employee, according to Ahoskie Police Chief Troy Fitzhugh.

Raynor was jailed under a combined $160,000 secured bond and made his first appearance on Feb. 1 in Hertford County District Court.

Fitzhugh said Raynor was terminated from his town job prior to being arrested.

“The town’s Public Works Director, Kirk Rogers, was able to establish that something wasn’t adding up, I guess through checking his department’s gas card receipts,” Fitzhugh stated. “Mr. Rogers brought this to the attention of our department, and then spoke with Detective Sgt. Stephen White who, in turn, investigated the matter. That investigation allowed Det. Sgt. White to develop enough information that led to an arrest warrant being drawn against Mr. Raynor.”

Ahoskie Town Manager Tony Hammond said Raynor had worked with the Public Works Department for three years prior to his termination.

Raynor is the second former Town of Ahoskie employee to be charged with a crime and arrested over the past week. On Jan. 30, Andres Jorge Snape Jr., formerly a lieutenant with the Ahoskie Police Department, was arrested by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation and charged with seven felony counts each of statutory rape, indecent liberties with a child, and statutory sexual offense. He was jailed under a $1 million secured bond.