ASHEVILLE — Former Buncombe County manager Wanda Greene may have directed assistants to buy nearly $42,000 worth of gift cards, a practice that isn't common for similar municipalities across the state.

Officials from four North Carolina counties contacted by the Citizen Times reported that on average, their annual gift card expenditures were well below that of Buncombe and most commonly were distributed under employee incentive programs.

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Representatives with Mecklenburg and Forsyth counties said they do not buy any gift cards, and at least one county, Wake, has an extensive policy that manages such purchases.

The city of Asheville reported less than $5,000 in gift card purchases over the past three years.

Court documents show Greene is accused of using taxpayer dollars for "inappropriate financial transactions," among them nearly $42,000 worth of gift cards to Target, Sam's Club and Office Depot.

"The disposition of these gift cards is not known," said investigators, who added there is probable cause to believe she committed federal program fraud, mail fraud and wire fraud.

The total amount of Buncombe’s gift card expenditures is unclear. County officials won’t disclose any records, denying multiple requests by the Citizen Times.

In New Hanover County, gift cards are given to employees to reward good performance. The county has more than 200,000 residents and includes the city of Wilmington.

Communications and Outreach Coordinator Jessica Loeper said cards are given to recipients of New Hanover's “Stellar Award.”

"Those are recognition awards for employees," she said, "and they have the option to receive a gift card for being recognized, which some employees choose."

One of the county’s departments also purchased a gift card each quarter for another employee recognition program, Loeper said. New Hanover has spent an average of $160 on gift cards over the past three years.

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Wake County, which includes the city of Raleigh and serves more than 1 million residents, buys gift cards but "there is a very specific procedure that our departments must follow to acquire them," Communications Director Dara Demi said.

Wake purchased $22,232 in gift cards last fiscal year and $10,719 the year prior, according to records provided by the county. Some of them are purchased by human resources staff for prizes for employees, Demi said, though the expense is covered not with tax dollars but with wellness incentive funding provided by the county's health insurance vendor.

The majority of gift cards are bought by its Human Services Department, she said.

"It uses the gift cards to reward clients — some of whom are younger children or teens — for attending programs or meeting goals," Demi said. "Human Services also uses gift cards to provide clothing or toiletries for foster care children who don't have what they need when they enter the system."

Wake provided additional records, including a gift card procedure that's been in place since 2010. It has a gift card liaison, according to the policy, and any purchasing request must be submitted at least 10 business days in advance. The county also requires that each gift card purchase is logged.

The liaison has a purchase account that is specifically used for buying gift cards.

Polly McDaniel, Asheville’s communications specialist, said city policy prohibits the use of procurement cards to buy gift cards. There can be exceptions with the approval of the finance director or the city manager’s office, she said.

Asheville officials reported nearly $4,400 in gift card purchases under records requested by the Citizen Times.

The department with the largest expenditure was transit. The previous contractor for Asheville Redefines Transit, or ART, purchased gift cards as attendance incentives for transit employees who used no more than one sick day per quarter. It led to $1,700 in Walmart gift card purchases and $550 for Ingles, according to the city.

The gift card attendance incentive has been eliminated under the city's new ART contractor, officials said.

The Asheville Police Department also purchased nearly $1,700 in gift cards for employee recognition awards; Parks and Recreation gave out $365 in gift cards for participants of the Hot August Nights 5K; and the sustainability office gave a $100 Best Buy gift card to the winner of a workplace challenge program, who was not a city employee.

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The U.S. attorney's office confirmed in mid-August that Greene "and others" are under investigation. Few details have been released.

Though county officials have acknowledged financial discrepancies and controversial pay increases — including more than $577,000 for sponsorships and advertisements with equestrian-related organizations and a $1.4 million so-called retention incentive program — they've given few details about the nature of the investigation.

Court documents, the content of which was reported Nov. 13 by the Citizen Times, revealed the most details thus far: Along with gift card transactions, Greene is accused of using procurement cards in assistants' names for $9,791 worth of payments for an Verizon account not associated with the county. She also used their procurement cards to buy $900 in home decor items, investigators said.

The search warrant request said county employees Rachel Norton and Tiffany Mila White told investigators that Greene used both of their procurement cards without prior notice. Norton said that when she became administrative assistant, Greene requested a photo copy of the front and back of Norton's newly assigned procurement card.

The case, filed in U.S. District Court of Western North Carolina, was re-sealed days after the documents were reported by the Citizen Times.

The Citizen Times has requested the county provide how much has been spent on gift card purchases for the last fiscal year, for which businesses and the names of the employees who made the purchases. It also has asked for the purchase card history for White and Norton, and records related to the Verizon account mentioned in court documents.

Buncombe has declined to release any information.

County attorney Michael Frue has cited an exemption in the state law that says records of criminal investigations are not public. The law, however, also says "the use of a public record in connection with a criminal investigation or the gathering of criminal intelligence shall not affect its status as a public record."

The release of court documents did allow the county to confirm that it initiated the investigation by notifying federal investigators less than a week after Greene’s June 30 retirement. A news release issued the day the county acknowledged $577,000 of public money went to equestrian organizations said an internal auditing process found financial discrepancies.

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County employees have "shared all allowable information with speed and full transparency," the Nov. 17 release said.

"The county continues to cooperate fully with investigators including abiding by any restrictions on the release of information, recognizing that the first priority is to ensure that the investigation is in no way compromised," Buncombe’s statement said. "In addition, the county will continue to provide, as allowed, updated information to the public."

By the numbers

Court documents, which were recently re-sealed, show Buncombe County spent some $42,000 on gift cards to Target, Sam's Club and Office Depot. "The disposition of these gift cards is not known," investigators said in a July 13 search warrant request.

Here's how much was spent:

2014-15: $16,000

2015-16: $11,500

2016-17: $14,400

Total: $41,900