June 17, 1999 | Read Time: 2 minutes
The director of Feed the Children’s distribution warehouse in Nashville has resigned in the wake of a scandal that has forced the temporary closing of the facility.
The actions came after local television station WTVF broadcast a report that showed the director, Steve Highfill, and other senior officials captured by a hidden video camera in the act of taking home boxes of food, clothing, toiletries, and other donated goods from the charity’s warehouse.
Mr. Highfill acknowledged to the station that he had permitted his administrative staff to take the items as a perquisite of their jobs.
All 14 employees in Nashville have now departed, and the warehouse is expected to remain shut for most of this month while officials from the charity’s headquarters in Oklahoma City take inventory and look into the allegations of theft. The televised report followed a four-month investigation by the station, which was tipped off by warehouse employees after they failed to get charity officials in Oklahoma to follow up on their concerns.
Larry Jones, who founded Feed the Children 20 years ago and remains its president, has since been trying to reassure the public that the alleged pilferage by his Nashville employees went on without his knowledge or approval, that theft is a common problem for U.S. businesses and charities, and that he is taking steps to prevent further larceny. The charity plans, for one thing, to install a dozen security cameras in the 274,000-square-foot facility.
“Feed the Children’s policy has always been very clear: Donated items go to those in need,” said Mr. Jones. “Donated items are not perks for employees.”
He added: “We look forward to the day when we can reopen the facility and continue our mission of delivering food, clothes, and other necessities to people in need throughout the Southeast.”
Meanwhile, District Attorney Torry Johnson in Nashville is awaiting a report by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation before deciding whether to bring felony theft charges against Mr. Highfill and half a dozen of his former colleagues.
The charity collects donated goods from across the country and distributes them to needy families in the United States and abroad. Its current campaigns include collections for tornado victims in Oklahoma and for refugees from the conflict in Kosovo. It says it received more than $200-million last year, three-quarters of which was in donated goods.
The charity’s Nashville facility, which opened in October 1996, distributes donated goods to more than 200 agencies in 20 Eastern states. Those groups will now get help from Oklahoma City until the Nashville facility reopens.
