DA: No prosecution for Traffic and Parking theft 
By George P. Hassett

On a snowy day last December, news broke that between $6,000 and $9,000 in cash and checks had been stolen from the city’s Traffic and Parking Department at 133 Holland Street. Eight months later, the Middlesex County District Attorney’s office has concluded that there is insufficient evidence to further pursue any prosecution in the case.
  ‚ÄúThis is a frustrating outcome to a frustrating episode,‚Äù Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone said.

   In a letter to Acting Police Chief Robert R. Bradley, Assistant Middlesex District Attorney John C. Verner said he does ‚Äúnot believe there [is] sufficient evidence at this time that would warrant the Somerville Police or the District Attorney‚Äôs office in proceeding with a criminal case‚Äù in connection with the December 2005 disappearance.   
   ‚ÄúUnless new witnesses come forward or additional evidence is found, we simply do not have investigatory leads that would allow us to pursue any suspects ‚Äì or even to determine conclusively whether a crime was committed,‚Äù Bradley said. Police interviewed 35 employees of the Traffic and Parking Department during the investigation and, according to a source close to the investigation, administered lie detector tests for select employees.
   The only disciplinary action taken after the incident was pointed towards overall responsibility and oversight issues and not for the actual theft itself, said city spokesperson Thomas Champion.
   The police investigation stemmed from the disappearance from Traffic and Parking‚Äôs 133 Holland Street offices of $7,553 in checks and cash processed between December 8th and December 12th, 2005.  ‚ÄúThe checks had already been entered into the Department‚Äôs processing system, so the City was able to recover all but about $400 of the $1,604 in lost revenue by making sure that the payees canceled their checks and reissued new ones,‚Äù Bradley said.  ‚ÄúAs of now, the total amount of missing money is  $6,343.‚Äù
   Curtatone said the police had conducted a thorough investigation but the only steps his office could take at this point were making sure a similar incident never happened again at the Traffic and Parking Department.
   ‚ÄúWe‚Äôve already taken steps to tighten money-handling procedures at Traffic and Parking ‚Äì and we‚Äôve taken administrative disciplinary action for this serious lapse in management and oversight ‚Äì but it certainly looks for now as if criminal prosecutions are unlikely.  I‚Äôm not happy about it, but at this point there isn‚Äôt enough evidence here to fire anybody, let alone prosecute,‚Äù Curtatone said.
Champion would not disclose the details of the disciplinary action because it was a personnel matter.
   Curtatone said he created a new position, Internal Auditor, to improve money-handling, collection and auditing procedures citywide, including at Traffic and Parking while also tightening vault-access protocols.
   ‚ÄúThere‚Äôs been a long history of procedural and managerial problems at Traffic and Parking that goes back well before this administration took office,‚Äù he said.  ‚ÄúWe started addressing those changes when I asked then-Captain Bradley to take over Traffic and Parking back in 2004, and changes have continued under Acting Director Jim Kotzuba, but they obviously haven‚Äôt gone far enough.‚Äù 
   Curtatone said the case may never be solved and that he was angered by the entire incident and its outcome.
   ‚ÄúIt‚Äôs infuriating, it‚Äôs unacceptable and it better not happen again,‚Äù he said.