A former Denver animal-shelter worker has been charged with embezzling $103,000 in pet-licensing fees over the past three years, the district attorney said today.
Lucrecia Sena, 31, was formally charged Tuesday with theft and embezzlement of public property, and a warrant has been issued for her arrest, District Attorney Mitch Morrissey said.
Sena, who worked at Denver Animal Care and Control since 2001, was an administrative assistant who processed requests for pet licenses.
The charges allege that starting in January 2004, she began pocketing licensing fees that were paid in cash.
In late December, when a heavy snowstorm sent most workers home, one staffer discovered the scheme, said shelter director Doug Kelley. He said Sena would take the cash and then replace it with checks people sent in to make sure the right amount was in the cash register.
“There were no red flags with treasury,” Kelley said. “It was money we didn’t know we had that was missing.”
The animal shelter takes in about $350,000 a year in licensing fees – a little more than $1 million since January 2004, Kelley said.
“She had the system down pretty good. We thought security controls were in place, but she circumvented the process by taking the license fees, typing up licenses and sending them out before anyone else saw them,” Kelley said.
The city shelter has since changed its process for taking in licensing fees.
