School officials and police in Harford County acknowledge more than $10,000 cash was stolen from Patterson Mill High School near Bel Air between 2009 and 2010; however, the Harford County State's Attorney's Office recently decided against filing any criminal charges because of the number of people who had access to the money.
Harford State's Attorney Joseph Cassilly said Tuesday that prosecutors reviewed the school and police investigation and felt it would be impossible to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a person of interest and no one else had access to the cash.
The theft took place over a 10-month period starting in December 2009, according to the police report filed in connection with the initial investigation.
On Oct. 10, 2010, the school system's coordinator of safety and security contacted the Harford County Sheriff's Office about a series of thefts that took place between Dec. 9, 2009 and Sept. 16, 2010.
On several different dates, someone stole cash box money from sporting events.
Deposits of money from two other school activities, one for less than $1,000 and another between $1,000 and $10,000, were also unaccounted for, according to the report.
In March 2011, the Harford County Sheriff's Office said there was a strong person of interest in the case.
On Tuesday, however, Cassilly said prosecutors, "basically came to the conclusion that there just really wasn't enough."
The case leaves too many unanswered questions, he said.
"This is cash, so it's very difficult to trace cash and show that any specific person took the cash, over what period, and how much," Cassilly said.
Issues of who counts the money and how the school knew exactly how much money was involved are other areas that left prosecutors with too much wiggle room.
Cassilly said inside thefts like those at Patterson Mill are nothing new. He said members of his office often talk to schools, parks and recreation councils, scout groups and sports teams about the importance of setting up simple accounting procedures that account for things and allow organizers to know exactly how much money they had and where it went in case of thefts.
"We looked at it and basically our sense of it was, if you think you can prove this, then file suit and go for it," Cassilly said.
He explained the standard of proof is lower in a civil suit than in a criminal case, where guilt has to be clear — beyond a reasonable doubt.
"We just don't think we can do it in this case," Cassilly said.
The Harford County Sheriff's Office case is now closed, the office's spokesperson confirmed.
"It's proceeded as far as it can go and the State's Attorney is not going to prosecute because there is reasonable doubt about who had access to the money. It's been investigated to its fullest," Monica Worrell, public information specialist with the sheriff's office, said.
One Harford County Council member says he remains outraged by the school staff's actions leading up to and following the thefts.
Councilman Dion Guthrie said the thefts happened, "because of the sloppy conditions that exist at Patterson Mill from the top down about how this money can be traced and taken care of."
Guthrie feels the process of money handling at the school needs to change.
"There are so many people with their hands in the pot that they can't trace who can be prosecuted," he said.
Guthrie also said he believes the amount of money stolen is likely more than $10,000.
"My understanding is it's somewhere between $10,000 and $20,000 that they know about," Guthrie said.
Guthrie feels someone should be accountable for the loss of the money.
"I'm appalled that the Board of Ed. and the superintendent haven't done a thing about it at this point," Guthrie said.
The president of the school board, Leonard Wheeler, and Superintendent Robert Tomback were unavailable for comment Tuesday. Patterson Mill Principal Wayne Thibeault's office said he was out on jury duty.