Tom Connellan, former police officer and part time inspector for the State Department of financial services, was charged and pled guilty to third degree Grand Larceny recently. The man reportedly stole around $32,561.00 dollars between Jan. 1, 2011 and June 30, 2015.

During this 54 month period, Connellan received over $32,561.00 dollars in wages he was not entitled to. He did this by filing thousands of false ATM inspection reports, extorting the system and everyone involved by using legal loopholes to divert tax dollars and hardworking citizen’s wages into his savings accounts.

On top of all this,  the police officer failed to tell his superiors about his part time job as an ATM inspector, even though they’re required to disclose work outside of their standard job. Onondaga District Attorney William Fitzpatrick, whose office prosecuted the case, commended the investigator who solved the case, stating he was “to work with the inspector general to prosecute this type of fraud and protect the taxpayers’ money.”

The major issue that is caused by this case however, is the money he stole. Despite the fact he had to pay it all back along with his guilty plea, this could severely affect and slow down public pension services and many more services.

Hopefully there can be more roadblocks set in place so next time it is not as easy for a man to so easily steal a large quantity of cash and disrupt public services.