SOUTHAVEN, MS (abc24.com) - Expensive restaurants. Luxury hotels. Now a gay sex shop. Those are just a few of the places Southaven Mayor Greg Davis spent the city's cash.
The charge at the sex store is now getting the attention of auditors and Southaven aldermen.
Since April, the Mississippi State Auditor has been looking at how Davis spent $170,000. They're demanding he pay back the money or come up with receipts for where the money was spent.
The state auditor's office tells abc24.com Davis provided a list of things he bought with city money and the sex shop purchase was among them.
Davis has been very upfront about the investigation, but he isn't talking to abc24.com about the sex store charge.
"At this point in my life and in my career, while I have tried to maintain separation between my personal and public life, it is obvious that this can no longer remain the case," Davis said in an interview with the Commercial Appeal. "I think that it is important that I discuss the struggles I have had over the last few years when I came to the realization that I am gay."
The mayor says his private life can no longer remain private because of new information brought to light during the state investigation into his spending.
The Mississippi State Auditor's office confirms the mayor submitted a $67 dollar charge to Priape, a gay sex store in Toronto, Canada.
The auditor's office won't get into specifics, but says the purchase was included with the $44,000 in receipts they've asked Southaven's Board of Aldermen to review.
"That establishment is listed on documents he gave our office," says Lisa Shoemaker, communications director with the Mississippi State Auditor's Office. "That store was included in the document he provided us for that $67 amount."
The charge seems to defy repeated statements from Davis that city money was never spent on his personal use.
"We just hope we get through this and prove we were doing the right thing and move on," Davis said in an earlier interview with abc24.com.
The mayor was not at his City Hall office today. He's taking a few days off for vacation.
"At this point I don't want to comment about his personal life or anything he revealed. That's his story to tell not mine," says Southaven Alderman at Large Greg Guy.
Guy declined to comment on the sex shop purchase.
"I have not found where it's been submitted to city to be paid," he tells abc24.com. "Unless it impacts, directly impacts, city business it's none of my business. It's his business."
According to the state auditor, it does, as part of the $170,000 in city money they're investigating the mayor for spending without keeping receipts. So far, Davis has paid back $96,000, in large part thanks to donors.
The board is meeting next Tuesday, December 20, 2011, to discuss Davis' spending habits, and the $44,000 in receipts he submitted. There's no word yet on whether Mayor Davis will be there to address this latest one.
"I know he said he's taking a few days off," says Guy. "I don't know if he'll be available for us to get together and do that."
