A bizarre incident on a cold night in 2005 should have been an ominous warning to city officials that the man they were trusting to develop the most prominent piece of real estate in Lewiston deserved close scrutiny.

That’s the night developer Travis Soule wrecked his car in two Auburn locations, leaving a trail of damaged property, oil and antifreeze in his wake.

He was eventually prosecuted for felony drunken driving after prosecutors discovered he had a previous OUI conviction. That one involved driving a borrowed BMW 100 mph in downtown Portland, slamming it into a tree and injuring a passenger.

Instead of caution, city officials plunged into a series of deals with Soule involving a condo and a restaurant on the site of the riverfront Cowan Mill.

Worse, behind the scenes, city administrators were handing Soule about $200,000 in federal money to rehab downtown apartment buildings.

Instead of watching Soule more closely, it now appears city officials may have failed to even monitor how he spent the money as required under federal rules.

About 90 percent of the money went into Soule’s pocket, rather than into improving the buildings, prosecutors say.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development began investigating Soule in 2009. Last week, that investigation culminated in charges of embezzlement and fraud.

Soule’s alleged scam was simple: Get local contractors to give him estimates for rehabilitation work, get money from the city and then not do the work.

But federal rules appear designed to keep that from happening.

First, according to the rules for two federal programs, the city had to inspect the properties to ensure they were up to code and qualified for the funding. The property owner would then submit an application for work on a property.

Soule sought money for new boilers, painting and windows, sometimes asking contractors to jack up their bids over their actual costs, prosecutors allege.

The city would then grant the loan, obtain a promissory note and impose a mortgage lien on the property.

The owner was then free to contract for the work.

Once done, the city was required to inspect the finished work and the property owner would submit an invoice.

Then and only then, according to the rules, was the city to issue a two-party check to the property owner and contractor.

The mystery at this point is why the city issued 17 checks to Soule between June 2007 and May 2008 without detecting that the improvements were not being done.

Who was responsible for those inspections? Were they completed? Is there paperwork showing the result?

It has been four years since Soule was issued his first check, and Lewiston taxpayers deserve some answers.

Who was in charge of this program? Did other local rental-unit owners receive money under these programs? Were those projects inspected? Was that work actually completed?

In 2008 and again earlier this year, Travis Soule was again arrested for drunken driving, and his license has been suspended until 2018.

The Cowan Mill burned two years ago and, while the property is under new ownership, it remains undeveloped.

Soule has now moved to Rockland, leaving nothing behind but a mountain of debt, hard feelings and questions.

Questions only city officials can answer.

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The opinions expressed in this column reflect the views of the ownership and editorial board.