A retired Burlingame (Calif.) Public Library administrative assistant has been charged with embezzling almost $130,000 in library book fines by pilfering $20 bills one at a time. Judith A. Gladysz, 55, was charged December 6 with theft and tax evasion following a yearlong probe. Gladysz retired in June after working for two decades at the main library, where her duties included transferring fines and other funds to the city’s finance department.
Investigators began looking into the case when a coworker found an envelope stuffed with cash in Gladysz’s desk while she was on vacation, the San Francisco Chronicle reported December 9. Although prosecutors have bank records showing Gladysz deposited $129,000 over four years, they said the money has vanished. “What specifically did she use it for? It’s hard to tell,” said Deputy District Attorney Peter Lynch.
City Manager Dennis Argyres told the newspaper the library has tightened its bookkeeping procedures, with two people now overseeing all transactions and frequent comparisons made between the cash register and the computer records of fines paid.
Posted December 13, 1999.