Theft Exceeding $150,000 Occurs at Finance Department

June 16, 2010

Police investigating incident; new internal money-handling procedures installed

Annapolis, Md. (06-14-10) -- Mayor Joshua J. Cohen announces that a theft took place last week in the Finance Department that resulted in the loss of $149,843.21 in checks and $3,982.59 in cash.

A deposit bag with the checks and cash was removed from the Finance Department’s vault between 2:30 p.m. Monday, June 7 and the next morning, Tuesday, June 8. The theft was discovered upon opening the vault for the courier to deliver the deposit to the bank.

The Police Department was contacted immediately, and an investigation is underway.

The Finance Department has moved vigorously to install new internal controls to prevent such an occurrence. Finance staff are making contact with check writers to ask for a stop payment and reissue to recover as much of the check amount as possible. Several large checks are already going through that process. The City stamped all checks as “deposit only” so they cannot be cashed.

The Finance Department handles money for scores of transactions for City services, including utility payments and parking fees. Those who sent in checks and cash that were received by the Finance Department on Monday, June 7, have been credited for the payments.