Among the junk, 10 Investigates' Paul Aker found what many would treasure:  big, flat-screen computer monitors, copy machines, boxes of digital cameras, phones, projectors, computers, all in apparently good shape.

The state recently got rid of the items, so 10 Investigates wanted to know often the state sells fully functioning equipment and why.

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Aker analyzed state inventory data, examining what the state purchased and then scrapped.  In the last three years, the state salvaged cell phones, computers, moving trailers and piles of electronic equipment.

According to the Ohio Department of Transportation, a $7,200 computer component, a $4,200 laser printer and an $8,900 call router and nearly 400 phones were all purchased and then got rid of them since 2006.

"The majority of equipment we have disposed of because we use it," said ODOT spokesman Scott Varner.

Still, 10 Investigates found that ODOT got rid of all kinds of equipment that the records showed was in good shape.  That included Cisco routers.  ODOT sent at least 30 routers to salvage even though ODOT records said they were "new in box."  Then, about five months later, ODOT repurchased the same sort of equipment.

"Clearly, it was something that was purchased by the department that did not work with our system or we could not use," Varner said.

10 Investigates also uncovered another disconnect between what some state agencies showed is gone and what equipment the agencies really still have.

At the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, there were records that showed items checked off as gone that the agency still has, including computer equipment, a $2,000 Smokey the Bear costume and a $5,700 lawn tractor.

"Those were miscommunications," said Koffi Akakpo, ODNR's financial director.

The ODNR acknowledged the problem could lead to repurchasing equipment it already has in its inventory. 

"We're doing the best we can to make it better," Akakpo said.

We found the same problem at the Ohio Department of Corrections.  The agency blamed a new computer system.

"I wouldn't agree that (the data is) dirty," said Julie Walburn, a spokeswoman at the Ohio Department of Corrections.  "It's flawed and it's part of the learning curve."

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