Other articles with keyword "DOGGIEPING" since 12/29/04
Posted on 07/24/2007 11:16:41 AM PDT by Behind Liberal Lines
PENN YAN NY- More than $6,000 and numerous checks were stolen from the financially strapped Humane Society of Yates County in the last week.
Director Don Cass said Monday that when he arrived at work Thursday, he found the back door pried open and more than $2,000 in cash and checks missing from the desk in his second-floor office.
Deadbolt locks were installed, Cass said, but after the organization's chicken barbecue and Rover Raffle fundraisers over the weekend, there was another break-in.
A safe, containing over $4,000 in cash and checks, was stolen from his office closet, said Cass, a retired Geneva police officer and now the city's mayor, noting that some sort of prying tool appeared to have been used both times to get into the building.
“Someone was pretty serious about getting in here,” Cass said.
Money from fundraisers usually goes into a bank account, but the bank was closed after the Saturday fundraisers, so the proceeds were put into the safe, Cass said.
He explained that he didn't consider depositing it after-hours because they had the safe.
“From now on, every night there will be a drop at the bank,” Cass said.
The safe contained 17 envelopes of checks that had come in from the Humane Society's mail campaign. The society didn't open the envelopes and does not have a record of who sent the checks, he said, urging those donors to call him at 315-536-6094.
Cass said he suspects someone familiar with the society broke in and stole the money.
“It was somebody who had been here before and knew we had two fundraisers,” he said.
The Yates County sheriff's office is looking into the burglaries, but because they're still working on it, Investigator Scott Backer declined to comment Monday on whether the break-ins are related, how the building was entered or whether he suspects an inside job. No one has been charged.
“We are still interviewing people,” he said.
The society depends on donations and animal adoptions to stay open because it is not affiliated with state, county or local governments and does not receive assistance from the Humane Society of the United States. Cass said the burglaries were a huge hit to the struggling shelter, and he doesn't know if they'll be able to recoup anything through their insurance company.
“To us, this is like someone taking a million dollars,” he said. “We depend on those fundraisers.”
The society, which has an annual operating budget of $150,000, is in the midst of a $100,000 “Save Our Shelter” campaign that began last year and had brought in about $38,000 so far.
Cass, who didn't know yesterday how security would be improved, said they'll make sure money is not left at the shelter unattended.
http://www.yateshumane.org/paypal.htm
ping
Might be time to install a $200 video surveillance system.
After one burglary, they should have started making nightly drops at the bank.
I agree. First, why would you keep money in a desk drawer?
Why was it not in a BANK?.........inquiring minds would like to know..........
Let the Pit Bulls roam at night...
Nevermind. I don’t know where I read it was in a desk drawer. Still, I think it would be wise for the shelter manager to take custody of the money until the banks are open. As long as there is a paper trail there wouldn’t be a problem
That is answered by the article.
That is not a very good answer. But then, I'm always skeptical of people when it comes to money..........
Penn Yan is a community that bears more than a passing resemblance to Mayberry RFD. I’m not surprised someone would think a safe was...safe.
Perhaps, but when I was a fast food manager back in the 1980s, company policy prohibited bank drops after dark, due to the hold-up risk. This shelter is certainly operating on a shoestring budget and with a shoestring staff. Probably the staffers working the fundraiser got done there in late afternoon, had a bunch of animals and stuff to take back the shelter. And before they can deposit donations, they have to count the money, probably sort out some check donations from the cash, and fill out a deposit slip. By the time they got done with that, it would likely have been after dark.
An inside job........
I’d fire the director, and hire someone who knew how to use a night safe at a bank.
I'll never understand why people don't bolt their safes to the floor like they're supposed to. Even your average safe from Wal-Mart comes with the bolts and instructions on how to do it. It's not a sure thing, but it makes stealing the safe a lot harder.
What else in new in Penn Yan. Years ago I had several friends who had cottages on Keuka Lake.
Good points. I did have to make night deposits at one point in my career, and we always brougth a buddy with us, in another car. It does make me a little sheepish now when I think of what we risked making those deposits after dark. At any rate, they clearly need a system for dealing with their money, or they won’t keep getting contributions.
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