$1,700 was stolen from City Hall last night and tonight the question isn't if an employee is responsible, it is which City Council employee is responsible. The official story is that sometime between 4 and 5 am this morning someone, without using force, entered the main building and headed to an office in the finance section where they took the $1,700 in petty cash from a filing cabinet. The person or persons also tried to get into an iron safe in that office. They then, it is believed, simply unbolted a door to the rear of the main building and walked out. All of this is alleged to have happened while a security guard was on duty at the front of the building where the burglar had to enter from since there was no sign of forced entry. The City Council's Special Advisor Dale Trujeque and Security Manager Hayran Longsworth spoke to 7NEWS this afternoon. Both agree it was an inside job. Trujeque told us what he saw when he was summoned to City Hall around 6 this morning.
Dale Trujeque, Special Advisor
"We were told there was a break in and it occurred in the finance section of the main building which is on the ground floor. So the police were here also, there were waiting for their fingerprint people to come over. When we went in there it was evident that things were moved around, not a lot of stuff. Things were touched, I would say, and pushed and hauled a bit. But the important that was observed as you walked in the building is that there was no forced entry into the building and that is the primary concern. Some money was missing from the cabinet, the unlocked cabinet. That is essentially what it is at the moment."
Keith Swift,
How much money was taken?
Dale Trujeque,
"We are still trying to ascertain but its approximately $1,700 so far that we have been able to determine."
Hayran Longsworth, Security Manager
"We believe it is an inside job because there was no force of entry and also we have a procedure that when the employees who leave at the end of the work day, which in we have some very late work days, they come to the security and then leave their key and make sure that the building is totally closed. So we believe that it is an inside job at this time. But at this time we've handed it over to police and we are investigating to see the course that we are going to take."
Dale Trujeque,
"You asked the question on whether we think it is a security personnel and I just wanted to add to what Mr. Longsworth said. In matters like these, just about everybody becomes a suspect. Anybody that has access to that area, anybody that works security, becomes a natural suspect."
Keith Swift,
So an employee came here around 4 or 5 in the morning and got into the building.
Dale Trujeque,
"It could be or may not be the case. We have security available. The security was here working at that time. The primary location for the security is the booth right here in the front. The incident occurred more to the back of the building."
Keith Swift,
But then there are only so many people who have a key to the building.
Dale Trujeque,
"That is true but I can give you different scenarios of how it could be the security or how it may not be the security. That is why I said let the police deal with evidence they have. Let them follow the trail and see where it leads."
Longsworth says the City Council is carrying out its own internal investigation. Police have questioned several employees but none have been detained or charged.
