MEXICO – About $14,000 in checks and cash, including some money raised to benefit Hurricane Katrina victims, were taken from Mountain Valley Middle School.
Mexico Police Chief Jim Theriault said on Monday that the theft apparently occurred sometime between Nov. 8, when the cash and checks were last seen, and Nov. 16, when it was reported stolen by an office employee.
He said the theft was not made public because of concerns that it would jeopardize the ongoing investigation.
Of the $14,000 taken, about $4,000 was in cash and the remainder in checks.
He said the funds were taken from a locked file cabinet located inside a vault in the main office. Entry to the funds was not forced. The checks and cash were inside three money bags. Another $1,500 cash, located near the bags, was not taken.
He said that although he and officer Jeff Stoddard have interviewed eight staff members so far, he has no leads.
“It’s a complicated thing. Unless someone admits it, we may not be able to solve the case because of the access to the vault,” he said.
The vault can only be opened by a combination lock. It remains open from morning until the close of school each day because student records are also contained there. And although only two people are allowed in the locked file cabinet, keys to it and other locks in the office, hang from a board near the vault, said Theriault.
He and Stoddard will continue the investigation. Theriault said he has also asked investigative officers from the Rumford Police Department to conduct a couple of interviews in the case.
“We’re kind of at a dead end,” he said.
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