By Adam Taylor

The News Journal

The New Castle County Ethics Commission has recommended that an employee in the county finance office be suspended for six months without pay for operating multiple fantasy sports leagues while on the job.

Jeffrey Stuart ran three fantasy football leagues and a fantasy NASCAR league from 2011 to 2013 using county phones, computers, printers and copy paper, the ethics commission's report, released Friday, says.

The complaint against Stuart filed with the commission said Stuart was observed collecting money and making payouts for the fantasy sports leagues.

"He admitted that he regularly monitored the fantasy sports leagues and their records on his county-assigned computer for extended periods during the workday, sometimes exceeding five hours a day," the commission's report says.

The commission recommended that he be suspended for six months because his conduct "undermined public confidence because his ability to carry out his official duties with integrity, impartiality and competence is impaired and he used his public office to secure private gain."

Stuart declined comment Friday.

County Chief Administrative Officer David Grimaldi declined to comment specifically on Stuart's case, because it's a personnel matter. In general, he said that the county's discipline code only allows merit employees such as Stuart to be suspended for a maximum of 30 days.

The commission said Stuart had been conducting the sports operations since well before 2011, and that his superiors failed to stop it.

"Mr. Stuart collected and distributed money at his desk; he openly left his monitor tuned to his fantasy site for hours on end; he conducted extended discussions of the fantasy leagues on county time; his gaming materials were found in a county printer; and he ignored written directives to cease and desist," the report says. "If he had been appropriately supervised, forceful action would have curtailed his conduct and administrative discipline imposed if he failed to conform his behavior to county policy."

The report says Stuart lied to county human resources officials who first investigated the allegations.

Grimaldi said the Gordon administration had the human resource department look into the issue shortly after they took office.

Contact Adam Taylor at 324-2787 or ataylor@delawareonline.com.