Federal officials today charged a contractor for the Internal Revenue Service with repeatedly urinating inside a Detroit IRS building freight elevator, causing a stink for other employees.

Michael Hicks, 55, of Detroit is charged with a felony count of malicious mischief, damaging governmental property by a sum exceeding $1,000. The crime is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

An affidavit filed today in U.S. District Court says Hicks’ urination caused the IRS to incur a deep cleaning expense of $4,626.

The investigation began on Aug. 16, 2007, when the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration received a complaint about someone urinating in a freight elevator of the IRS building on Michigan Avenue.

An investigator installed a surveillance camera and picked up images of someone urinating in the elevator “on numerous occasions,” according to the affidavit.

Hicks was identified and confessed to the urination during a 2008 interview, the affidavit states. [source]