BRADENTON, Fla. (WFLA) -Two former civilian employees from Bradenton Police are behind bars for stealing $30,000 from the department.
The police chief said the pair conspired over a five year period to pocket the cash without anyone noticing.
Jake and Cindy Zaagman were longtime civilian employees who were beloved at the Bradenton Police Department. They each came on board in 1983.
“Both of ‘em virtually grew up here at the department,” said Police Chief Melanie Bevan.
Police discovered between 2011 and 2015, the pair conspired to pocket some of the department’s money. According to authorities, Jake would keep some of the forfeiture funds before depositing it into the department’s account and Cindy would alter the financial documents to hide the theft.
In all, they stole $30,000.
“The Bradenton Police Department is a victim in this. We trusted that our employees would be held to the same standards that we would expect of police officers,” said Bevan.
Police believe the pair worked hard to cover their tracks. It took 11 months of investigative work and an audit of 30,000 items over a ten year period to uncover the crime.
The beloved employees turned themselves in on Wednesday.
“If you’ve got people who have committed a criminal offense, whether they’re your friend, they’re your neighbor, they’re your co-worker, justice needs to be served,” said Bevan.
“We felt betrayed. This is a police department. The audacity of employees to think that in this house that they can come in and commit such acts like this, how dare they, and not expect to get caught,” Bevan added.
Bevan said no property, evidence, or money that belonged to an outside person or entity was stolen. These crimes did not impact or compromise any criminal investigation or evidence held by BPD, past or present.
If you have any further information on this case, call Bradenton Police.