Former Kentucky Warden, Deputy Warden Accused of Overtime Fraud
The top two officials at Kentucky’s Southeast State Correctional Complex (SSCC) who abruptly left their jobs earlier in 2024 were accused of bilking the state of pay for hundreds of hours they didn’t work, according to analysis of records obtained and published by the Lexington Herald Leader on September 11, 2024.
As PLN reported, the state Department of Corrections (DOC) offered no explanation for firing Warden Charles Craig Hughes, 53, on February 22, 2024, nor when Deputy Warden Danny Dean McGraw, 52, resigned the same day. [See: PLN, Aug. 2024, p.21.] But the records revealed that DOC investigators acting on a tip reviewed the pair’s usage of their state-issued vehicles in 2023 and early 2024, finding they fraudulently claimed unworked hours on their time sheets.
Between January 2, 2023, and February 12, 2024, Hughes claimed 369.5 hours that he was apparently not onsite to work. In the same way, McGraw claimed pay for 173.25 hours he didn’t work from April 19, 2023, through February 12, 2024. Investigators concluded that both officials “displayed a pattern of claiming overtime when not completing the required eight hours of work per day.” Hughes made $98,315 annually, and McGraw earned $76,094.
In addition to their vehicles, both lived in state-owned houses; Hughes’ was on the grounds of Northpoint Training Center and McGraw’s at Little Sandy Correctional Complex. Both homes are far from SSCC—166 and 85 miles, respectively—but DOC didn’t explain why the two officials made such long commutes. Hughes was named SSCC warden in December 2021. The lockup is leased from private prison giant CoreCivic and staffed by DOC employees.
Source: Lexington Herald Leader