Chamber president arrested for embezzlement

February 18, 2009 by Jeff Aydelette

photo by Kathy Bohanan Enzerink/Pamlico News

The president of the Pamlico County Chamber of Commerce was arrested Tuesday, charged with embezzling approximately $9,000 although authorities have yet to determine the exact extent of the loss.
David Eugene Kitchen, 36, was elected to the post in December at the chamber’s annual meeting. Several chamber members, including former president Carla Byrnes, recall that Kitchen lobbied for the position, and eventually secured a nomination from the floor during the chamber’s Christmas party. As the only nominee, he was elected by acclamation.
“We have always been strapped for volunteers,” Byrnes said in a telephone interview. “No one else wanted the job. I feel like I have been raped by a family member.”
Kitchen’s status as a newcomer -- he arrived from West Virginia less than a year ago -- did not deter him from rapidly ascending within the leadership ranks of the chamber.
The path to trustworthy chamber volunteer was apparently facilitated by his wife, LaTriche, who arrived before him and quickly found employment as the chamber’s executive director.
The couple both tendered their resignations Monday during a meeting of the chamber’s executive board. At the time, the Kitchens and chamber officials knew of an investigation by the Pamlico County Sheriff’s Department, but David Kitchen was not arrested until the following day.Irregularities in the chamber’s checking account at First Citizens Bank first turned up several weeks ago when a new volunteer treasurer, Frankie Alcock, took over the books and records.
“Frankie saw that David’s name had shown up on the bank’s signature card,” said Byrnes. “Odd things were being purchased with drafts and counter checks.”
A law enforcement official recently pointed to a zig-zag pattern of residences for David Kitchen in recent years.
“He has been here, there, and yonder,” said the source. “And we are still looking into it.”
Kitchen is a former pastor of Higher Ground Ministries in Barboursville, West Va. Within the last month -- after becoming chamber president -- he assumed a similar position at Church of God Prophecy in Maribel. The couple and their four children are now living in the church parsonage -- apparently their third home within the last year.
When LaTriche arrived in early 2008, she took up residence at her parents’ home in Minnesott Beach.
Those familiar with the case recall “her parents kicked them out” after David showed up.
Ironically, Byrnes and her husband, who live in Vandemere, offered a rental house to the family. Byrnes confirmed the couple recently moved out, leaving her with unpaid rent and utility bills.
“I feel so betrayed,” said Byrnes. “I even took care of their kids. For him to pretend to be a pastor and then do something like this, I just can’t understand it.”

A recent resume for David Eugene Kitchen:

DAVID KITCHEN

SUMMARY: David has over 16 years of Help Desk support experience that has added to his excellence in Customer Service skills to work with any level of end-users. His technical skills include working continually on Microsoft platforms coupled with Remedy Trouble Ticket System, MS Office and various printer knowledge,And web design. Furthermore, he has a proven record of accomplishment, a strong work ethic and the flexibility to adapt to any technical support issue promptly and accurately

HARDWARE & SOFTWARE: MS Windows 95, 98, NT, 2000 (Workstation & Server), MS Office 97 / 2000 (Outlook, Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, SQL,Flowcharts,Publisher, FrontPage), PC Hardware (component level troubleshooting, setup, configuration, replacement, etc.), Peripherals (Digital Cameras, Scanners, Printers, etc.), UNIX, Novell, Lotus Notes, MS Exchange, TCP/IP, Ethernet cards, LAN/WAN, PC Anywhere, Norton Ghosting, Remedy Trouble Ticket System, HEAT Help Desk software, MAGIC, Domino, Peregrine Printers.AS400/J.D.Edwards.Cisco Vpn ,Inteleadmin (remote Access)

EXPERIENCE:

May 2008 to Sept8 2008 ontract ended St Marys Hospital
(Help Desk Remote admin/citrix vpn For Sorian)
Provide • LAN/WAN administration and MS Windows Server 2003 support ,update Corporate Website and Interneal Website,Analyze requirements and recommend systems, solutions and resources. Maintain login accounts, Internet and data communications capabilities. Duties include maintenance of a sophisticated hospital grade network that includes a storage area network, wireless access points, clustered servers, virtualization, SQL databases and maintain 12 different servers.Also disaster recovery of system data, operating system software, Sorian And cloverleaf(Hospital software)data integrity and virus protection of the servers, the clients and the network.(Remote Access With inteleadmin)

June 11 2007 Ameriprise Financial CDI Solutions Cross Lanes Wv
To April 8 2008 Contract Ended Provide helpdesk support by answering helpdesk phone calls and requests in our helpdesk system; Monitoring and assigning helpdesk request to the appropriate groups and assignees. Deploy and maintaining all desktop/laptop computers, printers; installation of software applications; and to troubleshoot and resolve all hardware/software issues. Remote Access to End Users and resolve issues.Manage and execute all national Ameraprise and local IT initiatives as a member of the Level 2 Desktop Support Team within the Ameriprise Financial.

March 2006 to MD DOT (Baltimore Location)
June 4 2007 CONTRACT ENDED Assist users in day to day issues with windows Xp, 2000 environment and Linux Systems. In connection problems with network connect ability and email issues and user passwords and office suit problems.

Sept 2006 to Alcon Manufacturing (Manpower Temp Employment)
Nov 2006 provided support to users in the Metrology Department and the accounting Department
Assisting users with issues with Word, power point, excel and email accounts. Also assisted users with new laptops, desktops transferring over personal information.

May 2006 To
Aug 2006 Contract for Tech Systems (Colombia Gas Corp)
PC TECHNICIAN
Replacing Images on PC/Laptops and delivering them to the users in the state of WV
and to Sub stations that were in need of replacements this was considered a XP rollout.

January 2006
To April 2006 Contract Ended Shaw Group
PC SUPPORT (Baton Rouge La)
Provide helpdesk support by answering helpdesk phone calls and requests in our helpdesk system; Monitoring and assigning helpdesk request to the appropriate groups and assignees; Assist Helpdesk Supervisor with weekly/monthly reports; Assist with network account creations and terminations; Load and configure company standard image on all new and existing computers. Environment is fast paced in a growing company.

February 2000
To December 2005 CONTRACT ENDED Sarcom Computer Systems
PC SUPPORT/ADMINISTRATOR

➢ Provide 100% technical support for Bank One and Nationwide Insurance in Maryland, Washington D.C., Virginia and West Virginia.
➢ Responsibilities including taking all calls for any problems that may occur such as desktops, software issues, down servers, and laptops.
➢ Track and log all calls with HEAT Help Desk software.
➢ Responsible for many aspects of team management including training new Help Desk Analysts on processes and resource usage in information system operations.
➢ Install and support Microsoft operating systems, troubleshoot and resolve most all problems within a five hour turn around.

July 1998
To February 2000 FDIC
GOVERNMENT PC SUPPORT/HELP DESK MANAGER

➢ Researched and identified problems and utilized creative and analytical problem-solving techniques to resolve problems by phone for users in all 50 states.
➢ Created Remedy Trouble Ticket System tickets for users, resetting passwords, and correct dial-up networking

November 1995
To July 1998 Lane Hoover Consolidated, Inc.
HELP DESK SUPPORT ANALYST

➢ Supported hundreds of Commercial and Custom Service Applications
➢ Resolved computer/server issues for clients contracted.
➢ Log in all help desk problems with Remedy Trouble Ticket System and escalate to a different help desk as necessary.

December 1993
To October 1995 Dek Security Services
HELP DESK ASSOCIATE

➢ Assisted problems with Email accounts (POP 3 server), dial-up networking and protocols.
➢ Provided phone support frequently assisting in the PC Support arena.

CERTIFICATIONS
Sept 2007 ITIL Class IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL)
"the key to managing IT services"
June 2007 A+ Certification

October 2000 Dell trained and certified
October 2000 Lexmark printer certified

EDUCATION
1995
To 1996
Studied courses in Computer Electronics and Theory Applications

1995
To 1996 Cabell Technical College, Huntington, West Virginia
Studied courses in Technical Electronics

2000 to 2005 Bachelor of Science

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