The six-month investigation into the theft of more than $10,000 in cash from Patterson Mill Middle/High School in Bel Air has been closed with no charges filed or prosecution of any suspects planned.
The Harford County State’s Attorney’s office declined to prosecute due to “too many questions surrounding employee accessibility [to the money] and a lack of accountability in the handling of the money,” Harford County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Monica Worrell said Tuesday.
“There was too much reasonable doubt,” Worrell said.
According to a police report, Harford County Public Schools security chief Bob Benedetto told police on Oct. 20 that a combination of cash and personal checks collected by the school could not be accounted for, and that a felony theft occurred between Dec. 9, 2009 and Sept. 16. Benedetto reported that the missing money came from the cash box money taken at various sports games on various dates, and from a deposit for other school activities.
Benedetto contacted the sheriff’s office after first conducting an internal investigation involving multiple persons at the school, the police report stated. He told police that the school’s vault, where cash boxes are located, had been re-keyed, with the only new key issued to Patterson Mill Principal Wayne Thibeault.
At the time, Harford County Public Schools spokesperson Teri Kranefeld told The Dagger that the school system’s investigation was continuing in concert with law enforcement.
As months passed without an update on the investigation from the Sheriff’s Office or school system, unrest developed among concerned Patterson Mill parents, who questioned the whereabouts of the money, the responsibility of those accountable for the funds, and the response from both agencies.
Check back with The Dagger for further updates to this developing story.
Kinda’ like the liberal democrats in Annapolis . . . where’s the money (and no one will be held responsible).
If that had been me taking the money, I would have been in the HCDC. You can’t tell me that 10,000 dollars missing is a little thing. How is the procedures for accounting for the money so lax that someone can take that much money and get away with it! Does that look good for the school system to lose the money and not have accountablity for it. Where do I put my application in for that job?
Unbelieveable!! Now that the Harford County Sheriff’s office has concluded their investigation and determined that there is not enough evidence to prosecute, what will Harford County Public Schools do? How much do you want to bet they will do nothing! Say this was a retail store in the private sector, the Manager responsible for such lax money handling procedures would have been fired long ago. No doubt the “manager” at PMHS will continue to bumble his way through the hallways as if nothing happened. How sad that these are the folks entrusted with our tax dollars to educate our children. I say again….UNBELIEVEABLE!!!
Question: How many times before this has cash been taken … and nobody noticed? Here’s an idea: Just put it in an old sock and stick it in the bottom drawer of a file cabinet. Probably safer that way. More secure.
It’s pretty unbelievable that there wasn’t a set procedure for handling the money, or that it wasn’t followed. Someone absolutely should lose their job– whoever had direct oversight for it. However, being a union, the best they can do is demote and transfer the person probably.
We have procedures for handling $20 in my workplace.
“felony theft occurred between Dec. 9, 2009 and Sept. 16” Assuming this is correct, that is over a nine month period. In a system where students have to check edline daily, teachers are supposed to post grades weekly to every few weeks it is absurd that the money is not reconciled and checked for over nine months.
WHAT A SHAME! You know who you are and you have stolen from the very kids you care for and are mentoring everyday.
Sorry to burst in to your little dream world “Worried Mom”. For the most part the actually don’t care much for our kids and there is not a lot of mentoring going on. And Patterson Mill is supposed to be the cream of the crop. It actually probaly is the cram of the crop which just demonstrates how bad the rest of it is.
Does anyone know how the money was handled? Is it possible that the people responsible were volunteers and not school system employees? Just asking.
From what I understand most of this money was from sporting events admission fees. That money is handle solely by employees of HCPS. I can only speak for the athletic boosters, but our money is separate and handle by members of the organization.
I think it important for all out there to understand that though teachers are the ones who take the money, at the end of an event the monies are counted and taken by an administrator/supervisor. The teachers have to account for every ticket sold with the funds at the end of the night. This is how it operates at most, if not all high school events. I can only imagine what it is like for the teachers working there, with this looming over everyone all year, over both students and staff.
You are quite right. Teachers need to have the amount of money collected equal the proper number of tickets sold when they turn their cash boxes into the appropriate administrator. Therefore, you can cross a teacher of of this list. I would put my money on someone higher up.
Why is the school system trying to not go after someone for this? They have no problem making grand speeches about how the children come first and how things are going to be different? I cannot believe that there are professionals in our system and nothing was done. Did anyone ever pick up the phone and call the HCSO School Police? How about 911? Just a question.
The HCSO just completed its investigation and there will be no charges. Maybe this link will offer some insight into HCPS’s response. http://www.daggerpress.com/2011/06/28/keesling-over-10000-%E2%80%9Cdisappeared%E2%80%9D-from-safe-at-patterson-mill-where-is-the-money/
No answer as far as I know at this time!
Whenever I read this website, everyone is always so angry! On top of that, almost everyone gets mean, rude, and downright nasty with each other! Here, I have an idea, everyone just take a chill pill and calm down, relax.
If we can not be angry about $10,000 plus being stolen from schoolchildren, then I guess we can not get angry about anything! In this instance I welcome the anger!
It wasn’t stolen from school children. Jeeze! It was stolen from the school. It was handled improperly and I’m sure the situation has been rectified and procedures put in place. As for the missing money from the field trip, children were not forced to repay. Yes it sucks that the money was stolen. Yes it sucks that it wasnt locked properly. It couldn’t be proven that it was a staff member or student. Get over it and move on. It was 2 years ago. Nothing has been stolen since.
How do you know nothing has been stolen? The principal didn’t report the theft even though he knew about it. Problem is there is so much distrust and lack of confidence in the school administration that the principal should be removed. If this was a company he would be voted out by the stockholders. What are the procedures that were violated? Were there any in the first place? All the other organizations that raise money in the school have very specific ones for handling money and yet the school system doesn’t? Remember this wasn’t a one time theft – this was a long term dereliction of duty.
I didn’t say it wasn’t stolen… I said it wasn’t stolen from school children as Colin had stated. It was stolen from the school. The principal should not be removed. There were so many hands and things that could have happened. He is the only one with a key now, problem solved. He can’t be to blame if it passed through so many hands they can’t even narrow it down to a handful. Yes, ultimately he is the sole person responsible for the entire building. However, things have been set in place for proper money handling procedures since.
I agree with you on certain subjects, but this is a shame. When did taking 10,000 not become a crime? I am sure all those people who took that amount of money would love working for the school system. In this time of tightening our belts, this just hits below the belt. Let me see…10,000 and don’t have to pay taxes on it. Geeee that sounds like a deal to me. AND the person, or persons, get to keep their job.
Ray of Sunshine, please describe to me just how relaxed you would be if you opened your purse or wallet and found someone had stolen $10,000. Money that you had in your custody but that wasn’t really yours.
Even if no one is prosecuted for the theft shouldn’t someone in the school be held responsible and FIRED!! Not to worry, the nitwits in Annapolis will make up the money by taxing us more during the soon to come “special session”.
I’m surprised how many here are angry over a mere $10,000 when millions are wasted by the school system but also by those in Annapolis. Yet, these same jokers are voted in time after time.
About the investigation; it’s likely the theft(s) occurred over time and could not be narrowed down to one or a few people. Remember, for one to be convicted the case must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Catching someone with their hand in the cookie jar is one thing, but trying to narrow down whose hand it was at a particular time or time period is another. I’m guessing they may have an idea who the culprit is, but do not have enough to go to trial (which apparently was decided by the prosecutor’s office).
As posted by A Ray of Sunshine, “just take a chill pill and calm down, relax.” I say, look at your friends in Annapolis and ask them where all the money is . . .
Who is ultimately responsible at the school? Is it the teacher, the secretary, or the Principal? Yes, there has to be a responsible party in this theft. You must look to the top an employment chart at PMS, which is the Principal. He is the person that should ultimately be held responsible for this mismanagement of school funds and for not following of proper protocol. I hope they are fair in this and not do the usually make the weakest party the fall-person in the matter.
who ever took the checks, were they deposited into a bank account? was there a stop payment issued? come on who does the accounting for this school? There should be a chain of custody for whomever goes into the vault, they should then sign in and if it were me id make sure to have a witness in there with me and have them sign in. why is there so many people in a safe? is there any documentation of who enters the safe and deposits?> why is this not in a bank account?
Thia could have been a teacher, the principal, a custodian. a student, a contractor, anyone, but how do we know who was in there? The principal should have a log there should be weekly inventory, the vice principal and school treasurer from pta should verify the amounts and then depoist the money
Sorry to report that this is similar to incidents that transpired years ago at North Harford and Edgewood. Heads rolled in each case!
When you say, “heads rolled”, what was the outcome, firings, transfers, demotions or prosecutions?
The problem here, according to the lawyers, is that the policy is so lax that anyone can steal the money and no one can figure out how it was done because a host of people have access. (That would be similar to State and Federal goverment policy on the use of our tax dollars but I digress.)
If the Finance Department of Harford County Public Schools does not have the authority to control a cash box containing that amount of money then they need to be given the authority and the accountability immediately. If they already have it then somebody must be fired and incarcerated.
The money is missing. What is the name of the specific individual responsible for controlling the money? If there is no one individual then tell me again why these people are entrusted with educating our children?
Rob, will there ever be an end to your relentless whining and finger pointing?
Probably not . . . not until we had rid the country of all the liberals.
How are you planning on ridding us from the county, Rob? Gassing us or just shipping us back to Africa or both?
It really does need to be renamed to Klan for Liberty.
And Rob, who will you have stand up for you when you are finally deemed too radical to remain in this country?
haha welcome to the very aptly named “Dagger” comments, where the bitter, angry Republicans blame it all on Annapolis/DC Democrats. I’m waiting for the blame to seep into the food section. A sad way to live a life.
Who else in Annapolis can it be blamed on? Is there another group of people in Annapolis who are wasting tax dollars? Yes, I am Republican and yes I am angry. I am angry at the waste; I am angry at paying such high taxes; and I get more angry when I hear those clowns in Annapolis talk about raising taxes again (including fees). Yes, I am angry at the stupid voters who vote these jokers into office over and over again.
Patterson Mill seems like a nice school and the community seems nice as well. I am sorry to hear about this lack of resolution to the issue. I hope the incident does not keep everyone from having a positive school year starting this Fall. Producing students who possess high quality skills is very important to the security and economy of the United States. We are falling behind other countries especially in science and math. As to the unrelated political posts, I am glad that I am not affiliated with either party and rarely comment on here. Anyway, with the current behavior of both political parties, I am proud to be disliked by both sides, and they never seem to disappoint me.
Since the theft includes cash and checks, can’t investigators find out which banks the checks went through when they were cashed? Who were the checks made payable to? I couldn’t just walk into my bank and cash a check made payable to a school. What precautions are in place now? All it says is that the principal (who should be fired since this occurrred on his watch) has the only key to a vault. This doesn’t seem like a good way to do business either. So someone just got away with stealing $10K from a bunch of school kids and that’s the end of the story. Unbelievable.
Sadly checks were never found and were never cashed, because yes… they were addressed to the school and could not be cashed by anyone else other than the bank the school uses.
Because of this incident, now, the principal is the only one with a key. Unfortunately, that was not the case until after this incident occured.
Anonymous,
I’m thinking one more shuttle trip would suffice . . .
Didn’t Mr. Benedetto run for Sheriff. Maybe we were lucky he lost in the primary. Good job Chief of Security.
Yes he did run for sheriff. He has appeared many places and usually poorly. He was responsible for telling people protesting outside one of the HCPS buildings that hey could not assemble there and his words were countered by a police officer that told the protesters they could be there on the public sidewalk. I met him during one of Nancy Reynolds fits of senility when she told a blatant lie and I countered by telling her she was speaking falsehoods. Mt Benedetto stepped in and said no one was casting aspersions on anyone’s character. He wrote me a letter and told me my demeanor determines whether or not I receive help from HCPS staff. The issue at the time was my son was missing and the school did not know how he was released to go home on a half snow day. Mr Benedetto seems to be on the wrong side of many issues.
Bottom line folks is that someone needs to be held responsible for this outrageous lapse of security. Mr. Tomback, the principle or Chief of Security should be called on the carpet.
Someone’s got to go and I think it starts with the Chief of Security
i agree, there should have been a chain of custody established, there should be records of who has access to the vault, there should be deposits weekly and checks and balances of people who count and verify deposits
The outrageousness of this loss coupled with the apparent lack of interest on the County’s,Sheriff’s Office, Mr. Tomback, and School Board is appalling. Maybe our County Council will wake up and address the issue. Thanks AAron for presenting this story. I for one will remember this when the polictians come knocking at my door the next election.
I am angry about this issue. But I do not see where the Sheriff’s office dropped the ball. It was investigated and I believe the prosecutor decided that the lack of accountability, for access to the safe, was so lacking that a prosecution was not possible. I am a parent at PMMHS and I personally think the principal should be removed, but more then that I want answers!
I absolutely agree with you regarding the HCSO. Clearly, they spent many months investigating and as much as we want the person or persons found, they can’t just “pick someone” to put the blame on. Personally, I feel that too much time went by before the HCSO was ever asked to be involved. If the moment money was missing they were called, perhaps the trail would not have been cold.
By the time the HCSO was notified and brought in to investigate it was too late to have any chance of getting enough evidence to charge anyone, let along have it hold up in court. Really, even by the time Benedetto was notified by a teacher it was too late. There had been problems with money handling at that school going back almost to the time it opened and I find it unbelievable that it took so long for anything to be reported. It really wouldn’t surprise me if money had been going missing from long before Dec. 2009, but that there just wasn’t any way to be sure.
I understand the reasoning for a failure to prosecute. However, nothing prohibits an audit or in depth internal investigation within the school system. It is quite likely similar such incidents have occured in other schools. In this day of economic calamity we cannot afford to have $10,000 walk out the door of one of our schools. Benji’s right where is the council and the county executive on this issue. The lack of action is trully disturbing. We can’t allow people in positions of responsibility to shrug their shoulders and say it went on for a long time.
I have started a Facebook page “Concerned Parents of Patterson Mill Middle/High School”. I want to bring parents together to try and demand some answers, to the following questions, from the school system.
1. Even with out prosecution has there been any internal disciplinary action taken against anyone for the theft and if so what was the discipline?
2. Has there been any disciplinary action against the person or persons responsible for access to the safe and if so what was the discipline?
3. Will the loss of this money in any way affect any school budgets?
Please feel free to check out the page, http://www.facebook.com/pages/Concerned-Parents-of-Patterson-Mill-MiddleHigh-School/188189891245240?sk=info
You forget that this happened 2 years ago… Fall of 2009. Of course the budget isn’t going to be affected now. It’s over and in the past. And they’ll never tell you who they disciplined, if anyone at all. Nor will they tell you what the punishment was. I’m pretty positive it won’t be happening again. Worry/concern yourself about something else. This subject is old now.
I choose not to close my eyes and let this issue go away, as many would prefer. The public has a right to know what has or is happening. As an active parent I too have “P-Mill Pride”. I can appreciate your opinion but fail to understand why you want to dissuade me from seeking answers to legitimate questions.
I too have P-Mill pride, but this is an outrage and I for one will not stick my head in the sand. This is not an old subject. It started in 2009, but as documented by Harford County Sheriff, it went on up to 9/16/10. My sources inside the school indicate that at least some of the missing funds were gate receipts from fall 2010 atheltic events. Monies used to factor budgets for the 2011-2012 school year. You may be right that HCPS will not disclose what action, if any, they have taken. But that too is an outrage. As a taxpayer, I feel as though I have a right to know. Just a hunch though….they have done nothing so far and likely will not!!!
Lew see my above post. Connect with us on facebook, help us get answers!
Well done Colin. Community outrage is apprently the only way this matter will be addressed.
Thanks Dagger for posting this story.