Former Piedmont Triad Partnership chief executive officer David Powell  was arrested yesterday and charged with four felonies—-two counts of embezzlement in excess of $100,000 and two counts of obtaining property by false pretenses in excess of $100,000, all related to his tenure at PTP.

Powell posted a $100,000 cash bond and was released, according to Guilford County assistant district attorney Howard Neumann, via the Triad Biz Journal.

The charges come a year after Powell left PTP and several months after an internal audit reported financial irregularities, which the Greensboro Police Department deemed” fairly significant.”

Nobody really knows what these economic development types really do, and —as the News &
Record reports—-
was more secretive than most—-preferring to “preferred to work privately, declining most interview requests and rarely returning phone calls.”

That said, he was at the forefront of the proposed Greensboro-Randolph megasite, which public officials and economic developers hope will lure a large manufacturer—like an automobile company — to the area.