Parks and Recreation employee accused of stealing city funds
A Cape Coral Parks and Recreation employee was charged with grand theft by Cape Coral Police after she admitted to stealing $860.26 out of the regular deposits from Pops Café in City Hall, officials said Sunday.
Susan Eileen Burns, 47, of Fort Myers, submitted her resignation on Friday, and was taken into custody on Saturday. Burns had been employed with the Parks Department since January 2007.
The theft was discovered by Parks and Recreation staff from the regular reports generated by the department’s financial accounting software, RecTrac. Burns, who received deposits from the employees of Pops Café, was supposed to prepare a deposit bag and deposit slip, and forward the money and slip to the City’s Finance Department. The financial tracking software showed that two deposits in the amount of $402.43 and $457.83 from Pops Café had not been processed, officials said.
After being confronted about the missing deposits on Friday by Cape Coral Police detectives, Burns reportedly admitted that she had placed the deposits in her desk drawer and removed the cash for personal use as she needed. Burns did attempt to replace about $300 of the money; however, the city’s financial tracking system and parks staff already had detected the theft. She immediately submitted her resignation on Friday afternoon.
Burns was arrested on Saturday and formally charged with three counts of grand theft. She was booked and transported to the Lee County Jail.
Source: City of Cape Coral