Laserfiche WebLink
Utilities Director Terry Pinto advised that there is a <br />specific State statute for tampering; it is not for the stealing <br />of the water. It is a very widely -used statute, which was <br />created for tampering with electric, water, wastewater, gas, and <br />cable TV. <br />Commissioner Wheeler asked if the person in question was <br />notified of this meeting today, and Director Pinto advised that <br />Mr. Schommer had not been notified. He explained that before <br />this came about, they had several meetings with the Sheriff's <br />Department and the State Attorney's Office about this type of <br />problem happening. The State Attorney's recommended several <br />steps to take if such a case came up, the first of which is to <br />notify the Sheriff's Department. That was done, and they went <br />out and did all the recording, and the State Attorney's Office <br />has said that they will prosecute if the County wanted them to go <br />ahead with that. We were proceeding with that, but yesterday the <br />person in question came in and said he was willing to make <br />restitution for whatever damage was done; and wanted the <br />Utilities Dept. to issue an order not to prosecute. Director <br />Pinto stated that he did not want the authority to make that type <br />of decision, and felt that the Board should make a policy <br />decision today on how to handle all such cases. <br />Commissioner Wheeler did not feel that this matter should be <br />before the Board today since a law. has been violated, and Commis- <br />sioner Bird agreed, because if someone broke into this building <br />and stole a typewriter and then wanted to make restitution, he <br />did not feel we would accept that. If a crime has been <br />committed, iit should be settled just like any other violation of <br />the law. He asked if we have the ability to ask that the State <br />Attorney's office go ahead and prosecute and at the same time <br />recover the County's loss. <br />Attorney Vitunac advised that when the matter is taken into <br />court by the State Attorney's Office, the County Judge would have <br />the power to recover our $550. <br />52 <br />MAR 221988 <br />BOOK 71 FGE 351 <br />