(WORTHINGTON) - A suspended Worthington Deputy
Marshal Donald R. Richardson was arrested Thursday night after a warrant was
issued for his arrest.
Richardson is accused of
stealing money from the evidence locker at the Worthington Police Department.
According to the Greene County
Daily World, Richardson has worked at the Worthington Police Department for
twelve years, but was demoted from marshal to a deputy last year after
allegations of poor work performance and other unacceptable behaviors. The town
council appointed Randy Raney to serve as marshal in October.
On November 30, Raney was
reorganizing the evidence room when he discovered the keys to one of the
lockers, was not where it should be. He found it in an ice cube tray on top of
the refrigerator and when he opened the locker he discovered a large plastic
bag that contained evidence from a 2012 case had been tore open.
Rainey says he was familiar
with the case Richardson had investigated and that $1,300 in cash was missing
from the bag.
The Indiana State Police were
called to investigate.
According to a probable cause
affidavit filed by Indiana State Police Master Trooper Detective Stacy Brown,
Rainey told police he searched the evidence room several time and could not
locate the missing cash and the only person that had a key to the evidence room
as well as a key to the police department door was Richardson. He also told the
detective that Richardson had been going through a divorce and was having
financial troubles, and that the town clerk had mentioned that Richardson had
tried to get advances on overtime he had not worked.
Raney also found that the case
file on that case was missing from the file cabinet it was supposed to be
stored in, and there was no reason for anyone to have the file because the case
was no longer an active investigation.
He also found that the computer
file on the case had been modified on Nov. 17, 2013. The modification was on
the amount of money taken into evidence.
The original document showed
the amount to be $1,289.10 and the modified document showed it to be $1,089.10.
On the date the document was
changed, Raney and Richardson were the only officers working for the
department, and Richardson was the only officer working that day.
Detective Stacy interviewed
Richardson on December 17, and reported that when he asked Richardson about the
missing money Richardson became agitated and angry. And when told about the
missing money, he claimed someone was attempting to "set him up."
Richardson told the detective
the money was not mising, but stored in the refrigerator in the evidence room
to eliminate the odor of marijuana on it. He also says he was hoping the
department could seize the money to purchase new equipment for the department.
Both Stacy and Richardson then
went to the refrigerator to look for the missing money. Richardson opened the
frigerator and without looking grabbed the top envelope on the top shelf and
handed it to the detective.
Stacy reported that was
suspicious since, Raney had searched the refrigerator several times and didn't
find the missing money.
The envelope contained a
smaller heat sealed bag with the proper case number and a dollar amount of
$1,089.10 on it- $200 dollars short of the total listed in the original
probable cause affidavit.
Richardson reportedly told
Detective Stacy the amount listed in the original probable cause affidavit was
incorrect and that the bag contained the correct amount.
When asked about the missing
case file, Richardson said the printer was not working on the day he finished
the report so he was unable to print a copy. When Stacy asked why he didn't
print a copy after the printer was fixed, Richardson became upset and did not
answer.
Richardson was then showed a
copy of the modified probable cause affidavit and told him that the change was
made on Nov. 17 when he was the only one working, Richardson allegedly said
that he did not take the money and did not make changes to the affidavit.
Again Richardson claimed he was
"being set up and they (Raney, the clerk-treasurer and deputy clerk and
members of the Worthington town board) were trying to make it look like he
stole the money."
Richardson requested that Stacy
check the computer in the evidence room to see what the dollar amount it listed
for the case was, and on Dec. 20 Stacy discovered that the file on that
computer had been modified on the same day as the file on the computer in the
front office.
Again, the amount of money had
been changed from $1,289.10 to $1,089.10.
On Dec. 20, Stacy interviewed
Worthington Deputy Clerk Debbie Dyer, who told him that she did not have keys
to the police department or evidence room and that she had no problems with Don
and was not part of a set-up against him.
On Jan. 13 of this year, Stacy
spoke with Worthington Clerk-Treasurer Gloria Klass, who said she did not have
the keys, either, and that she considered Richardson to be a friend. She
allegedly stated that she had recently received messages and emails from
Richardson asking for $650 in Operation Pull-Over (OPO) overtime he claimed to
have worked and that she had told him the policy on OPO advances had changed,
at which point he asked if they could reconsider so he could give his son a
good Christmas.
Klass told Stacy that she
loaned Richardson $600 and he agreed that she could have his OPO check when it
arrived. She added that she recently learned he never worked those hours or
submitted the overtime claims, and that she was very surprised Richardson lied
to her and took $600 of her money.
On Jan. 17, Stacy talked with
Brad Deckard, who was employed as a deputy sheriff at the Greene County
Sheriff's Department when Richardson initially worked the case involving the
missing money. Deckard said he remembered the case and that he verified the
amount of money taken into evidence, but that he could only recall that it was
over $1,000.
Deckard also allegedly told
Stacy that Richardson had recently called him to tell him that he made a
mistake on the dollar amount listed on the probable cause affidavit, and had
requested that Deckard be a friend and cover for him. Deckard said that when he
told Richardson he could not recall the dollar amount that was seized,
Richardson asked him to lie to Stacy and tell him the dollar amount was
$1,089.10.
Richardson is preliminarily charged
with theft and official misconduct, both class D felonies. His bond will be set
at $8,000 surety with ten percent cash allowed.
