Correctional Officers steal credit cards from prisoners

Ran into a pretty sad story, where it was reported that two Baltimore correctional officers were caught stealing credit cards from inmates they were processing into jail.

John-John Williams IV of the Baltimore Sun reports:

Two corrections officers from the Central Booking and Intake Center were arrested yesterday and charged with stealing credit cards of people under arrest.

Lontona Maria Webb, 38, of the 3600 block of Clarinth Road and Latoya Renee James, 24, of the 1300 block of Dalton Road each face multiple counts of credit card fraud, identity theft and misconduct in office, according to charging documents.

The authorities investigating the case aren't commenting because the investigation is still underway.

It also appears that the Baltimore Sun and an attorney, who was arrested (charges later dropped) are responsible for alerting the authorities that their jail needs a little cleaning up:

Nicholas Panteleakis, 34, a city public defender, said that his credit card was used to make nearly $1,000 in fraudulent purchases at McDonald's, Target and a gas station.

Panteleakis said that his credit card company took care of all of the fraudulent charges.

The Sun detailed Panteleakis' claims of fraud at Central Booking in February. At that time, Panteleakis said he discovered that someone had used his credit card within six hours of his release from Central Booking. He said he believes the card was stolen after his wallet was checked as property at the facility when he was arrested on one count of loitering, a charged later dropped. He immediately canceled his credit card.

"If it wasn't for my access to the media and other avenues, I don't think anything would have become of it," he said. "People would still be having their stuff stolen from them."

As a result of this, officials at the jail have had video surveillance cameras installed to watch the area, where personal property is inventoried.

It's sad when we discover those, who have taken a sacred oath to uphold the law, violate it. They damage the reputation of their profession, and all the fine people, who take this oath seriously!

Unfortunately, this isn't the first time, I've done a post, where a correctional officer (and some Jet Blue employees) were stealing credit cards:

Airline employees and correctional officer arrested for credit card fraud

Baltimore Sun story, here.