A former employee with the Riviera Beach Police Department was arrested Tuesday for allegedly stealing $101,000 from the department’s evidence room.
Claudia V. Hutchinson
Claudia V. Hutchinson, of West Palm Beach, is facing eight counts of destroying evidence and one count of larceny between $20,000 and $100,000. Hutchinson, 42, was released from the Palm Beach County Jail Tuesday after posting a $29,000 bond.
The alleged thefts were uncovered in August when an audit of the department’s evidence room found that an evidence bag containing $642 was missing, according to an arrest report.
Hutchinson called in sick a day after the missing cash was detected, then told a co-worker she “accidentally took the evidence bag of $642 home” and would return it, the report said. The bag and money were found in the evidence room later, the report states.
A few days later, Hutchinson turned in her resignation. A Riviera Beach police captain went to Hutchinson’s home to return personal belongings and asked Hutchinson if she had anything that belonged to the police department.
Hutchinson allegedly returned with a trash bag filled with 119 empty evidence bags, all of them connected to active cases, the report said.
Hutchinson gave consent to search her home and 70 more empty evidence bags were found. The 70 bags were also connected to active cases.
While police were conducting the search, Hutchinson “began to go into an emotional crisis” and was taken to a hospital.
Hutchinson was employed as an evidence technician with the police department for two years and was “trusted to preserve and secure all RBPD evidence taken into custody,” the report said.
