ELLISVILLE, Mo. (AP) - The Missouri Highway Patrol has been asked to investigate after someone deleted computer files of Kevin Bookout, the former city manager in the St. Louis County town of Ellisville.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that someone accessed the computer on a night in September, deleted all of Bookout's email and obscured or deleted hundreds of other documents.
Bookout's attorney said his client had nothing to do with deleting the files.
"This is the first we have heard of any of this," attorney Benjamin F. Westhoff said. "They haven't notified us of any investigation."
Bookout was suspended by the city council for undisclosed reasons on Sept. 11. Councilman Gary Voss said that the following Sunday, at 10:30 p.m., someone used Bookout's credentials to log into the computer. More documents were deleted a few days later.
Mayor Adam Paul said the activity was not done remotely. City Hall did not have security cameras at the time, and officials said other employees knew Bookout's log-on credentials.
"It's like a mini Watergate around here," Voss said.
Bookout earned roughly $115,000 annually before he was fired on Oct. 28. He was fired with cause, meaning he won't get severance pay. He is contesting the termination and is seeking an arbitration hearing, Weshoff said.
Paul declined to disclose the reason for Bookout's ouster.
"It's a personnel matter," he said. "That's for the legal eagles to handle."
But critics have said Bookout played a large part in an unsuccessful attempt to build a Walmart Supercenter in Ellisville. He also testified against Paul during the mayor's impeachment trial in April.
Paul, a leading opponent of the Walmart plan, was eventually removed from office, only to be reinstated by a St. Louis County judge months later.