Tuesday, April 01, 2014

Sea-Tac airport manager investigated for theft of $113,824

Sea-Tac Airport’s Credential Center manager, Maleaka Carroll-Jones, is being investigated for stealing up to $113,824 in cash.

All of the nearly 15,000 Port of Seattle employees, many of whom work at Sea-Tac Airport, have security badges.  When a badge is lost, the employee responsible must pay a fine of $250 and security violation fines that range from $50 to $500.

According to Port of Seattle police documents, as the Credential Center manager, Jones has been in charge of collecting and depositing those fines since 2007.  Last November, Jones came under suspicion when a Port of Seattle accountant noticed “that the Credential Center was collecting cash that wasn’t being deposited into its Bank of America account,” according to an investigation document.

An investigation revealed that while Jones was manager, cash deposits decreased significantly from $12,500 in 2008 to $653 in 2012.  There were no cash deposits made in 2013, according to police documents.


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 KIRO 7 tried to get Jones' side of the story by visiting her Pierce County home on Tuesday.  No one answered the door, but Jones apparently admitted to the theft.  According to police documents, “she realized that the situation didn’t look good for her” when detectives interviewed her on March 4.

At that meeting, Jones "took full responsibility for the missing money."  That was also the day Jones was placed on unpaid leave.

A source at the airport told KIRO 7 that the issue of whether there have been any security violations by Jones is still being investigated.  At this point, the source said there is no indication of that.

Perry Cooper, a spokesman for Sea-Tac, said he could not comment because the case is still under investigation.

Jones has not been arrested or charged with a crime.  She does have a “history of civil debt judgments” and “is also the subject of two IRS property tax liens,” according to court documents.


Story and photo:   http://www.kirotv.com


Maleaka Carroll-Jones