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Report: City workers caused $100,000 in thefts and damages in 2014
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BATON ROUGE – A financial report released Monday by the Louisiana Legislative Auditor revealed that city employees caused more than $100,000 in thefts and damages for the city of Baton Rouge and East Baton Rouge Parish in 2014.
In January, Baton Rouge Police arrested three Department of Public Works employees, Kevin Coleman, Donald Moore and Keith D. Harrison, accused of stealing three loads of limestone worth $3,600 from the city-parish.
Police said after dumping the limestone from the DPW truck they used to steal the building material, Harrison pulled off without letting the bed down, damaging power lines and utility poles in the area. Police said Harrison didn't have authorization to use the truck or to dump the limestone at the business.
Investigators said Harrison, Moore and Coleman were paid $800 to take the stolen limestone to the business.
Officers charged Harrison with felony theft, unauthorized use of a vehicle and criminal property damage. Coleman and Moore were charged with being principal to felony theft.
According to the Monday report, city officials will keep access to dump truck keys and keys to other equipment in a secure limited access location to prevent future incidents of misuse of city-parish equipment.
The audit also showed a second incident in 2014. The report said last October, an employee from a contracted janitorial service stole checks from a drop box in the city constable’s office, totaling approximately $3,000.
The audit said Tombra Mack was a supervisor of the janitorial service and had access keys to all court offices. The report said Mack is no longer employed by the contracted firm.
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