Missing police money still listed as ‘open case’
Published 4:58 pm Tuesday, September 9, 2008
About $3,000 in money from a police safe went missing in December, and it’s still an open case, according to Selma Police Chief William T. Riley III.
Riley spoke recently to the Selma City Council’s Public Safety Committee chaired by Councilwoman Geraldine Allen.
“That’s still an open case, and the attorney general has it,” she said Monday.
About eight months ago, a Selma Police Department inventory of contents housed in a temporary holding safe in the drug unit revealed the missing cash.
Then-acting police chief Jimmy Martin said the drugs and weapons confiscated and housed in the third-floor safe checked out, but he said there was some inconsistency in the currency.
The city had yet to hire Riley as its police chief. He didn’t come on board until spring 2008.
At the time of the inventory, Martin said drugs and cash taken from suspects after their arrests are labeled and placed inside the temporary safe. If officers believed the money was earned through illegal means, the department could petition the court to award it to the city.
That money was given to the finance office at City Hall and deposited until a resolution in circuit court.
If the money was being held, individuals signed for their property and it was returned upon release.
Council members have repeatedly asked for updates on the investigation into the missing money.
About two months ago, Mayor James Perkins Jr. announced Riley had turned the matter over to the state attorney general.
Attorney General Troy King’s office does not comment on nor does it confirm ongoing investigations.