A former cop got caught carrying marked bills meant for a retiring Huntington Beach Police Officer. Here's how they figured out the culprit.
HUNTINGTON BEACH, CA — Stealing from work is never a good idea, but when you work with detectives you're bound to get caught.
While fellow officers passed the hat for a retiring officer, this former Huntington Beach police detective decided to dip into the funds rather than donate. Now he'll do 240 hours of community service to pay back the debt to society.
Mario Ricci, a 49 year old Los Angeles resident, admitted to stealing the cash from a colleague's retirement gift fund on Thursday. He was immediately sentenced to 240 hours of community service.
Ricci pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor count of petty theft, was also placed on one year of informal probation. He had been on the force for 17 years, and a detective for 11, defense attorney Ed Welbourn said.
"Sometime between last Dec. 8-15, Ricci took cash from an envelope left out for donations that would go toward the gift," Senior Orange County Deputy District Attorney Brock Zimmon said.
Officers noticed the envelope seemed a tad light around Dec. 8, and launched an internal investigation, according to prosecutors.
Starting an investigation, they began to document the denominations of the money and the serial numbers of bills remaining in the envelope, the prosecutor said.
As Ricci was leaving the department's headquarters on Dec. 15, he was confronted by investigators and was found to be in possession of the bills that were noted, according to Zimmon.
Police Chief Robert Handy said Ricci was placed on administrative leave "when the investigation revealed he was a suspect."
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