Chairman Vows Investigation Into El Dorado Supervisor's Brush Clearing

EL DORADO COUNTY (CBS13) — A county leader is calling for action after a CBS13 investigation uncovered a politician getting paid taxpayer money to do yard work on his own property.

Last week, we showed you tens of thousands of dollars going into the pocket of El Dorado County Supervisor Ray Nutting. Now board chairman Ron Briggs is calling for a special investigation into Nutting's actions after our story aired.

Nutting's family owns 660 acres of timberland outside of Placerville. Over the past decade, he's collected about $70,00 from the state for work he's done clearing brush and trimming trees on his own land, all in an effort to prevent a catastrophic wildfire.

Briggs referenced our story and wrote, "On behalf of the board that it is imperative for the public to know we do not condone any conversion of public money to personal use, period."

Nutting's $70,000 in payments are also drawing the attention of the district attorney's office. They're examining potential violations of fraud, perjury and conflict of interest statutes on the claim forms he submitted to the state for reimbursement.

Nutting says he isn't doing anything wrong, and he plans on continuing collecting taxpayer dollars.