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$300 stolen from Carnegie borough police
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A former cleaning company employee with a drug addiction used his familiarity with the Carnegie Municipal Building and its access codes to steal money from a locked desk in the police department.
The theft was discovered Monday morning when the police secretary noticed that her desk had been jimmied open and approximately $300 in parking ticket fines was missing. A screwdriver had been used to pry open a middle drawer.
After an investigation that included reviewing surveillance tapes, police arrested Logan M. Schwab, 20, of Bulger in Washington County on charges of criminal trespass, burglary, theft by unlawful taking, possession of instruments of crime and criminal mischief.
He confessed to stealing the money, police Chief Jeffrey Harbin said.
"From cleaning the building, he knew the routine," the chief said.
He added that the borough had received occasional reports in the past few months from other building tenants about missing petty cash and items that had been tampered with. Mr. Schwab voluntarily resigned from the cleaning company late last month.
He was arraigned Tuesday before District Justice Dennis Joyce of Crafton and faces a preliminary hearing June 21.
Chief Harbin said his department expects to be reimbursed for the missing cash.
Meanwhile, the municipal building's access codes have been changed.
Public works employees have been assigned to clean the municipal building.
First Published June 14, 2012 5:23 am
