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BONITA SPRINGS — A former employee of Bonita Grande Aggregates helped authorities uncover a scheme where two managers allegedly converted thousands of dollars worth of equipment into scrap metal and sold it, Lee County Sheriff’s Office records show.

Ray Edward Knowles, 61, of 13966 Avon Park Circle, Fort Myers, and Mayer L. Ogden, 54, of 34330 Bermont Road, Punta Gorda, were arrested Friday and released from jail early Saturday after posting bond. They were arrested on complaints of grand theft.

Neither man has a record in Lee or Charlotte counties, jail records show.

The incident began unraveling earlier this summer when an unnamed former employee — who was reportedly fired from the company — gave a sworn statement while being interviewed at the law firm of Roetzel and Andress in Fort Myers. The man said he became aware of Dumpsters full of parts being taken out of a mine by a Mulberry company.

The information included claims that two men were receiving the profits from the enterprise, $2,500 in cash was delivered in envelopes each time and approximately 13 loads of scrap metal was taken.

The former employee said he saw a check made out to “Ray Knowles Industries” instead of Bonita Grande Mining, according to the reports.

Bonita Grande’s chief financial officer told deputies he learned upper management had disassembled equipment and sold it for scrap. The money was never given to Bonita Grande, which sells rock for construction use. The amount of economic damages to the company was listed at an estimated $200,000 in the original incident report.

A third man, whose name was omitted from the arrest reports, also was allegedly involved.

The chief financial officer looked into the former employee’s claims and found that beginning in March, the salvage company began picking up scrap metal. Records show scrap metal was collected, but no monetary deposits into any Bonita Grande accounts were made. The financial officer became alarmed because he could “not find any documentation or reasons why (the salvage company) would collect heavy metals from the company and then never pay for the metal that was being recycled.”

Two other employees were interviewed by the financial officer and confirmed the former employee’s statements. A private investigation firm was hired to monitor and photograph the removal of the metal. The firm also photographed the trucks traveling to central Florida to a salvage yard.

The financial officer called the salvage company and discovered it had paid $20,000 to Bonita Grande Aggregates and still owed $5,000 for two metal pick ups that have not been paid. The salvage company apparently was not aware of the problems.

The Sheriff’s Office was notified of the incident on August 5, after the investigation by the private firm and the financial officer was complete.

Knowles, when reached at his home telephone number Monday, asked: “Is that worthy of a news article?” He declined further comment.

Ogden could not be reached for comment.

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E-mail Valli Finney at vallimfinney@yahoo.com