BATON ROUGE – An audit shows three people stole money from East Baton Rouge’s parking system between January 2018 and last summer, with one person making off with more than $66,000.
In addition, BREC was reprimanded by auditors for the second year in a row for inadequate accounting of the company’s gift cards.
The Louisiana Legislature’s auditor said Monday that charges have been filed against two of the three people who stole from the parks system – one person who stole $66,705 over a five-year period using a BREC credit card and another person who embezzled $3,269 in cash proceeds from 2019 to 2021.
Another person received $3,706 in reimbursements for improper mileage but was not charged for his offenses in 2021.
Other than their titles, none of the three were identified during the audit, and none still works for BREC. The person who collected the largest amount of money, a special facilities manager, has paid back a partial amount of $20,716. The others were identified as a center manager and “Project Coordinator II.”
BREC said that the names would not be disclosed as they were personnel matters.
The East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office said Monday that its records show an employee named Valerie Griffin was arrested in September 2021 and accused of stealing $3,269 in cash and $666 in checks from the Alsen Park Recreation Center. Investigators said that on one day, an envelope that should have contained $100 for a site rental contained only $8.
After the theft was discovered, Griffin missed a meeting with BREC auditors, investigators said. A lawsuit is still pending, Monday’s filing shows.
The larger theft was handled by Baton Rouge police, who did not immediately respond to messages.
The auditors stated that each of the thefts was due to poor supervision.
In addition, the auditors said BREC did not have an accurate accounting of its gift cards and their outstanding balances. In its response to the audit, BREC said it would have a resolution in place by the end of September.
