"There's gold in them, thar’ hills." That's an old, old saying back in the gold rush days.

Video: Word On The Street (1/9/08)

Well, there's no gold in the Cheatham County landfill.

But there is other metal like copper, stainless steel and aluminum. So what's been happening with it?

A district attorney's investigation, I'm told, has evidence that the Cheatham County Solid Waste director and a group of jail inmates working on the landfill have been bringing it to Nashville and selling it.

And what happened to the money?

Assistant District Attorney Bob Wilson said it was split among the director and the prisoners.

One inmate, according to district attorney investigators David Hicks and John Etheridge, said his split was $1,100 from just one haul to Nashville.

Hicks said the director, Jarrett Nicholson, claimed that some of the money went in the department's petty cash fund.

And where is the petty cash fund kept, the investigators said they asked the director. In his pocket, the director is quoted as answering.

Investigators said discarded refrigerators, stoves, televisions, lamps, toasters and anything electric were stripped of their wiring and the copper inside.

"It's a mess," said investigator Hicks. "There are no records on the amount that's been taken to Nashville and sold."

Cheatham County Mayor Bill Orange said it’s thought to be a minor circumstance.

But a new system is being installed with the funds derived from landfill sales turned over to the county, he said.