Sept. 03--A former veteran Chicago police property custodian was sentenced to two years in prison Wednesday after being captured on video surveillance stealing money, jewelry and a camcorder out of an evidence facility, prosecutors said Wednesday.
Pamela Brown, 59, of the 10000 block of South Emerald Avenue, was convicted in July of official misconduct for taking items from a police evidence facility. Cook County Judge Clayton Crane sentenced her Wednesday.
Brown was caught on video stealing city-owned property, including items such as foreign money and jewelry, according to a news release from the Cook County state's attorney's office.
Brown was a $60,000-a-year property custodian who had worked for the city since May 1990, according to court records. Her responsibilities included sorting through prisoners' forfeited property and turning in valuable items or money to her supervisor at the end of her shift, prosecutors said.
Brown became the subject of a department internal investigation in February 2012 when supervisors noticed a change in inventory records. Police investigators then set up a video camera to record Brown performing her duties. The footage instead captured Brown stealing several items, prosecutors said.
After seeing the footage, officials decided to conduct an "integrity check," in which 26 bills totaling $200 of prisoners' forfeited cash was placed in Brown's area. But Brown did not forward the cash to her supervisor at the end of her shift, and was caught with the money as she tried to leave work, prosecutors said.
