A state employee has been arrested after the state Inspector General found he had been using a state credit card to pay for more than $4,000 in charges including rental cars, hotel rooms, gasoline, beer and cigarettes.

David Plume, 48,  a database analyst at the Department of Environmental Conservation earning $71,732 a year, logged 55 improper charges from Dec. 27, 2007 through Mar. 4, 2008, according to acting state inspector general Dennis Martin.

The $4,466 bill included more than $1,100 to a national car rental agency, more than $930 in hotel bills in Albany and Lakeville, CT, as well as restaurants, food and sundries. Plume also rented a small pull-trailer from U-Haul, according to the inspector general's office.

DEC deactivated the credit card on Mar. 4th.

Martin said Plume made the credit card charges while he was out on sick leave. He's worked for the state for 26 years, and for DEC since 2005.

Plume was charged with third-degree grand larceny, defrauding the government, and official misconduct.