Philadelphia Controller catches city workers stealing scrap to sell [video]

A Philadelphia School District employee and someone working for the city are accused of stealing scrap metal.  

They could lose their jobs and might face criminal charges.

Philadelphia City Controller Alan Butkovitz says a streets department employee used a city forklift to load metal onto his personal trailer and then took the scrap metal to recyclers, pocketing the cash. 

“Through records obtained from the recycler we found that the employee made at least six trips to the recycler since December 2013 documenting a total sales volume since that time of $850,” Butkovitz said. “The majority of items observed visually were large objects such as metal guardrails and storage containers.”

Butkovitz says a school district locksmith sold brass parts such as doorknobs and lock cylinders to scrap dealers.

“When our investigator interviewed the owner of the scrap recycler and obtained sale records it was determined that this employee sold scrap to this particular recycler on 30 separate occasions over two years for a sale value of $1,747,” he said.

The school district doesn’t have an official policy for scrap metal disposal. The city’s policy is so specific that it even names designated recyclers.