One of two Division of Motor Vehicles officials being investigated over a controversial hire is no longer with the agency.

Purnell Sowell was the supervisor of the License and Theft Bureau's Charlotte district office. DMV spokeswoman Marge Howell said all she knew was that he had left the DMV two days ago, reports Dan Kane.

Sowell, 49, would only say that he is seeking legal advice regarding his exit from the DMV. He had worked nearly 21 years for the state and had an annual salary of $71,867.

Sowell served on an interview panel that was to evaluate candidates for an emissions specialist job.

The position went to James Burgess, a former purchasing clerk at Progress Energy who was a childhood friend of bureau director John Robinson. Passed over was a State Highway Patrol mechanic, Hal Bunn, who had been teaching service station mechanics to do emissions inspections for nearly a decade.

Read more after the jump.

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The State Bureau of Investigation is looking into how a longtime friend of a DMV director won an emissions specialist position over a state Highway Patrol mechanic who has been teaching people how to do emissions inspections for roughly a decade.

Hal Bunn, the patrol mechanic, said Tuesday that he was interviewed by an SBI agent about two weeks ago, Dan Kane reports.

"I had to go through the whole scenario, from my application right up through to the end of it," Bunn said.

The end of it for Bunn was a settlement with the state, in which he received $1,600 for his legal fees and $774, which equals a five percent bump in his current pay for the past several months.

The state Division of Motor Vehicles officials requested the investigation six weeks ago, after The News & Observer told them of the connection between the man who got the job, James Burgess, and DMV Director John Robinson Jr., who oversees the License & Theft Bureau. Emissions specialists work for the bureau.

The SBI recently finished a separate investigation into how a friend of former DMV Commissioner George Tatum had received a title for a vintage truck, when his vehicle was actually a custom-built replica, but the results have not been disclosed.

Tatum resigned shortly after the vintage vehicle episode.