Longtime DOT bridge inspector admits to falsifying reports

ATLANTA - A longtime employee at the state Department of Transportation has stepped down after admitting to falsifying dozens of bridge inspection reports.

The department is re-inspecting the 54 bridges that David Simmons said he and his partner filed reports for but never visited. Commissioner Gena Abraham said the department doesn't believe any of the bridges are unsafe but is checking just to make sure.

She said the falsified reports began appearing last fall.

Simmons, who has been with the department for 29 years, has said he would retire effective immediately. Simmons' partner, who was not named, has resigned but never confessed to lying on the reports.