Detectives with the Cayuga County Sheriff's Office said they do not believe any of the employees in the Cayuga County Treasurer's Office were responsible for the theft of $13,000 in unprocessed tax money in April 2007.
Detective Joseph Weeks said that after conducting extensive interviews and voice analysis tests, he did not believe any of the employees had lied or had any information regarding the theft.
A voice analysis would examine a suspect's voice during an interview and measure the amount of stress present when the individual spoke, Weeks said. When a person lies, several muscles used for making vocal sounds tense up changing a person's voice in a way that is not detectable by the human ear.
“The polygraph and the voice analysis test are just tools that we have for our investigation,” Weeks said. “Neither is a cure all, end all to any investigation.”
Sheriff David Gould said that anyone who had access to the money on the fifth floor of the Cayuga County Office Building could still potentially be a suspect.
“At this time we have cleared (Cayuga County Treasurer) Jim Orman and his staff unless we receive additional evidence that suggests otherwise,” Gould said. “Everyone who had access during the crime has to be viewed as a suspect during a police investigation, but that is not the same thing as saying everyone would have taken the money.”
Because both the tax payments and their corresponding pay stubs were stolen, the treasurer's office was never aware a crime was committed until residents came into the office in October 2007 to prove they paid their taxes by presenting their receipts, Orman said.
When the residents' payments were never processed, the office assumed they never paid their taxes.
The unprocessed cash was stolen during regular business hours when the money was placed in a box on top of a file cabinet which was stored in an alcove out of sight from the public, Orman said. Any unprocessed money that remained at the end of the day would have to be stored in a vault at the end of the day before it could be deposited.
Sheriffs officials said they believed the money may have been stolen by another employee at the office building who just happen to see the money while no one was looking.
“This was not a crime anyone could commit,” Gould said. “It had to be someone who had access to the money during that particular timeframe.”
Due to the office's layout, employees from other departments within the building would cut through the office to get from one end of the floor to the other, creating a high volume of through traffic. The office was also undergoing minor construction near the time of the theft, increasing the number of potential suspects.
With no more leads and all of the interviewed employees passing the voice test and the interviews, the sheriff's office has turned to the public for help.
“We believe everyone we have interviewed who had access to the money so far,” Gould said. “That's why we took this to the public. We are hoping someone knows or saw something. We are hoping someone came into contact with this money.”
Anyone with any information on this crime is asked to call Detective Joseph Weeks at 253-3902.
Staff writer Nate Robson can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 248 or nathan.robson@lee.net
A voice analysis would examine a suspect's voice during an interview and measure the amount of stress present when the individual spoke, Weeks said. When a person lies, several muscles used for making vocal sounds tense up changing a person's voice in a way that is not detectable by the human ear.
“The polygraph and the voice analysis test are just tools that we have for our investigation,” Weeks said. “Neither is a cure all, end all to any investigation.”
Sheriff David Gould said that anyone who had access to the money on the fifth floor of the Cayuga County Office Building could still potentially be a suspect.
“At this time we have cleared (Cayuga County Treasurer) Jim Orman and his staff unless we receive additional evidence that suggests otherwise,” Gould said. “Everyone who had access during the crime has to be viewed as a suspect during a police investigation, but that is not the same thing as saying everyone would have taken the money.”
Because both the tax payments and their corresponding pay stubs were stolen, the treasurer's office was never aware a crime was committed until residents came into the office in October 2007 to prove they paid their taxes by presenting their receipts, Orman said.
When the residents' payments were never processed, the office assumed they never paid their taxes.
The unprocessed cash was stolen during regular business hours when the money was placed in a box on top of a file cabinet which was stored in an alcove out of sight from the public, Orman said. Any unprocessed money that remained at the end of the day would have to be stored in a vault at the end of the day before it could be deposited.
Sheriffs officials said they believed the money may have been stolen by another employee at the office building who just happen to see the money while no one was looking.
“This was not a crime anyone could commit,” Gould said. “It had to be someone who had access to the money during that particular timeframe.”
Due to the office's layout, employees from other departments within the building would cut through the office to get from one end of the floor to the other, creating a high volume of through traffic. The office was also undergoing minor construction near the time of the theft, increasing the number of potential suspects.
With no more leads and all of the interviewed employees passing the voice test and the interviews, the sheriff's office has turned to the public for help.
“We believe everyone we have interviewed who had access to the money so far,” Gould said. “That's why we took this to the public. We are hoping someone knows or saw something. We are hoping someone came into contact with this money.”
Anyone with any information on this crime is asked to call Detective Joseph Weeks at 253-3902.
Staff writer Nate Robson can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 248 or nathan.robson@lee.net
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unmaterialistic wrote on Jun 17, 2008 4:53 PM:
Why don't you all stop pointing the finger and blaming others; join together and find the one person you all have the RIGHT to blame: the guilty offender.
Granted, it might be more difficult than writing blogs online about who was negligent and who was heroic, but in the end it is the only act that will actually matter. Start investigating, ask around, report suspicious behavior. Do something! "