Theft at school: Case closed - ugh

Editor:

After a six-month investigation by the Harford County Sheriff's Office into the theft of more than $10,000 in cash from Patterson Mill Middle/High School in Bel Air, the case has been closed without any 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."

The school system has an internal auditor who should be overseeing all missing funds. And furthermore, the school system doesn't even know how much money is missing, i.e. between $10,000 and $20,000.

The school system has a coordinator of security, a coordinator of internal investigations, an internal auditor, and a Harford County Sheriff's Deputy assigned full time to this particular school as a school resource officer. What were they doing?

Patterson Mill Middle/High School is a new school with a surveillance system that is supposed to prevent theft. What happened?

What success has the fraud hotline achieved in the past three years of operation?

Concerned citizens and employees can report suspected fraud, waste or abuse of school system resources by calling 410-809-6056. The call automatically goes to a voice mailbox that is monitored daily. The information reported is reviewed by the office of internal audit.

Callers have the option to leave contact information. All information will remain confidential.

Examples of what to report: missing cash, embezzlement, falsified documents, theft of supplies or equipment, abuse of work hours, computer/technology abuse, vendor fraud, contractor fraud, worker's compensation abuse, other improper activities.

It's available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Will Superintendent Robert Tomback find the answers to these and other perplexing questions on his junket to China?

Incompetence reigns and we all are getting soaked!

Wally Brenton

Bel Air

The writer is a former coordinator of security for Harford County Public Schools - editor