A former employee of a YMCA on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson has been charged with stealing at least $100,500 from ATMs he'd been tasked with regularly replenishing.
Clifford Penn Jr. has been charged with first-degree theft, scheming to defraud and falsifying business records. The charges stem from Penn's alleged altering of ATM records during 63 separate incidents over the course of almost two years, according to a criminal complaint filed earlier this month.
Earl Whitt, the executive director of Armed Services YMCA, located on JBER, contacted the Anchorage Police Department on June 3, claiming Penn stole the money between April 2012 and February 2014, according to the complaint.
"The theft was discovered when an audit was done on the YMCA's ATMs, which Penn was responsible for stocking," the complaint says.
The recreation center used to carry liability because it supplied and stocked the cash machines itself. Whitt, who started at the job in September 2014, told police he decided to start using a vendor to fill the machines. That's when he noticed "there was a huge (difference) between what their records showed and the actual cash on hand," the complaint says.
A treasurer took home three years' worth of ATM statement and manually pored over them. She determined the thefts stopped when Penn stopped working there sometime in 2014, according to the complaint.
Thefts allegedly increased around when Penn would go on vacation from work, according to the complaint.
"There was never a problem with anyone else or a problem when Penn was with someone else" stocking the cash machines, the complaint says.
After unsuccessfully attempting to track down Penn, detective Anthony Pate was contacted by Penn's attorney, Wallace Tetlow.
The defense attorney told the officer he'd receive the court summons on behalf of Penn, but his client wouldn't be making a statement about the allegations. Tetlow said Thursday he does not comment on pending cases.
Whitt said in an email that the Armed Services YMCA is conducting an internal investigation and cooperating with Anchorage police. Penn is no longer working there, he said.
"Based on the investigation, we plan to see to it that justice is served and the missing funds are recovered to the best of our abilities." Whitt said.
According to online court records, Penn is set to make an initial court appearance in Anchorage on Friday.