| For Immediate Release Case# 09CM92957
March 24, 2009 |
Susan Kang Schroeder Public Affairs Counsel Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 Farrah Emami |
SHERIFF’S EMPLOYEE CHARGED WITH STEALING $20 EACH FROM FIVE INMATES WHILE TAKING
INVENTORY OF THEIR PROPERTY
SANTA ANA – A civilian employee of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department (OCSD) was charged today with stealing money from five inmates while taking inventory of their personal property after arrest. OCSD Correctional Service Technician Christina Santucci, 35, Lake Elsinore, was charged today with five misdemeanor counts of petty theft. She faces a maximum sentence of two years and six months in jail if convicted. Santucci is scheduled to be arraigned April 23, 2009, at 9:00 a.m. in Department C-47, Central Justice Center, Santa Ana.
Between April 3, 2008, and July 29, 2008, Santucci is accused of stealing $20 from five inmates on separate occasions. Each of the victims in this case had been ordered into the custody of the OCSD after appearing in Superior Court for a variety of charges against them. The property belonging to the arrestees was inventoried at the respective court where they were arrested. When the arrestees were transported to Orange County Jail, their property was also sent to the jail.
As an OCSD employee, Santucci was responsible for re-taking inventory on personal items that were sent to the jail. On five occasions, the defendant is accused of stealing $20 in cash from individual inmates’ property and manipulating the inventory to account for the difference.
OCSD began investigating the case after some of the inmates complained that they did not receive all of their property back.
Deputy District Attorney Andre Manssourian of the Special Prosecutions Unit is prosecuting this case.
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