Auxiliary Officer's Crime Prompts New Policies at Glendora PD

It came out of left field for the Glendora Police Department.

An organization that prides itself with being entrusted to serve the community with honesty, bravery and integrity had suddenly found a member of its auxiliary force -- an awarded auxiliary officer no less -- had been stealing money from the department.

Former auxiliary officer Daniel Lewin -- who received a city award for his hours of community service earlier this year -- was charged and convicted of theft May 17. Lewin stole a little less then $200 from the department. He was given three years probation, a one-day jail sentence, 100 hours of community service and a  $300 fine.

Although it began in December of 2010 and lasted for a month, the ramifications still resonate somewhat.

"It was completely out of the ordinary for him to be doing such a thing," said Cpt. Tim Staab of Glendora Police. "There was absolutely no indication at all that he was capable of committing theft."

According to the publication "Glendora Report," which can be found on the city's Web site, Lewin was described as a 20-year-resident of Glendora. He began his work as an auxiliary officer in September 2007.

"Although Auxiliary Officer Lewin has been with us for a short time, he has demonstrated an uncommon commitment to professionalism and dedication to the Auxiliary force and the City of Glendora," the report said. "A clear and convincing example of his commitment is the over 1,000 hours he has volunteered in 2009."

The report went on to say that Lewin committed himself to learn as much as he could of various duties within the auxiliary, including fingerprinting duties, which he stole funds from.

Lewin also served as a crossing guard.

He received the Gold Award from the city for performing more than 500 hours of service on Jan. 20, 2011.

Irregularities with the department's funds were first discovered in December of last year when some of the money from fingerprinting fees started disappearing.

"I saw that there was an anomaly in the fact that revenue wasn't consistent with prior track records," said Glendora Police Chief Rob Castro.

Knowing something was amiss, the department set up a sting. Staab conducted an integrity check in late January.

He had someone intentionally bring in a marked $20 bill to be collected by whoever was performing transactions that day.

When Lewin finished his assignment that day and the funds were audited, the department knew how much money was collected.

Officers confronted Lewin and found the marked bill in his pocket.

"It really hurt the volunteers," Castro said. "They were affected greatly, because they take great pride in what they do. We made it clear that it was one individual and we went through extraordinary measures to make sure what was happening."

There are about 30 auxiliary officers in the Glendora PD. These volunteer, unarmed officers perform a plethora of duties, ranging from patrolling the city, schools, handle records at the department, help with investigations, serve as personnel for special events and provide extra eyes and ears for the department.

The incident forced Glendora Police to periodically audit all accounts when any employee or volunteer has access to any funds. The department even sends a second individual out to monitor any transactions, Castro said.

"We have somebody else that takes the money," Castro said. "They do the fingerprints, somebody else rings up the money and that way, we can account for each person that came in and we document exactly how they pay."

"This is certainly a black eye for the police department, but we were able to catch it in-house, our personnel was able to identify the problem and react swiftly to it," Staab said.