Updated: Anderson County building commissioner faces charges in TBI case

Note: This story was updated at 3 p.m.

Anderson County Public Works Director David Lynn Crowley was arrested Thursday morning by agents from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation on five charges of violating state laws dealing with having the proper licenses to perform building inspections.

In a press release, the TBI said Crowley, 62, of Clinton, is accused of performing building inspections he wasn’t certified to do. Crowley was indicted by the Anderson County Grand Jury. He is charged with five misdemeanor counts of violating the state’s building official certification law.

Crowley was booked into the Anderson County Detention Facility in Clinton at 9:45 a.m. Thursday and released on a $1,000 bond a little more than an hour later.

The TBI said special agents began investigating Crowley on April 16 at the request of Seventh District Attorney General Dave Clark.

“During the course of the investigation, agents developed information that Crowley, the public works director and building commissioner for Anderson County, performed five inspections without the proper certification,” the TBI said. “State law affords a building commissioner 12 months to obtain the proper certification. Agents determined Crowley performed five inspections outside the grace period afforded in Tennessee law.”

WYSH Radio in Clinton reported that Crowley has come under fire since he was hired in 2012 for lacking the necessary state permits to conduct building inspections.

WYSH also reported that another Anderson County building inspector, Lisa Crumpley, was reportedly fired Thursday morning. In a letter sent to Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank and County Commission Chairman Robert McKamey dated October 3, her attorney, David Stuart, writes: “Ms. Crumpley has been conscientiously required to engage as part of the duties on her employment, including, but not limited to, providing information requested by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the county law director. It is her belief that she is about to be subjected to retaliation on account of this activity, and I am therefore sending you this letter to formally protest and to seek appropriate intervention to prevent any retaliation.”

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