Fired Boeing worker allegedly stole movie tickets, drones

Published 8:00 pm Friday, February 26, 2016

EVERETT — Boeing investigators installed security cameras in a mail room in late 2014 to catch whoever was stealing thousands of dollars in movie tickets.

The footage allegedly showed Bryan McLeod taking the tickets and putting the empty boxes back on shelves, according to court records. McLeod allegedly admitted to company investigators that he was fencing the stolen tickets online.

He reportedly turned over more than $3,000 in movie tickets and a ledger detailing his sales. The loss was estimated at nearly $17,000.

Boeing provides movie tickets to employees as incentives.

McLeod was fired and ordered to stay off company property, according to court papers. Boeing at the time didn’t report the thefts to Everett police.

But late last year Boeing investigators contacted Everett detectives after a series of break-ins. The company suspected that McLeod was behind the new thefts. More movie tickets were missing and a couple of drones were taken from a storage room.

Everett detectives were told that McLeod likely kept one of his Boeing identifications to gain access inside. Boeing turned over video surveillance footage, and they also gave police the evidence they collected from the 2014 thefts.

Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Michael Boska charged McLeod earlier this month with first-degree theft, a felony. He was scheduled to be answer to the charge Wednesday. McLeod didn’t show up and a judge was told that he’d been injured in an accident. He is expected in court next week.

Everett police detectives contacted McLeod in December. They reported that McLeod tried to hide his identity during the mail room thefts in September and November. By then, he’d been fired and alerted that surveillance video cameras were in use.

“McLeod was noticeably careful to keep his head down and avoid any direct look at any camera placed in the mail room during the most recent incidents,” Everett police detective Brad Williams wrote in reports.

One of the videos allegedly showed McLeod leaving the mail room, hopping on a Boeing tricyle and pedaling away from the building.

Police also learned that a lock on a store room had been pried off in November. Drones valued at $520 were taken. McLeod allegedly posted boxed drones for sale online, according to court documents. Police searched his apartment but didn’t find any of the stolen property, Williams wrote.

McLeod reportedly admitted he was responsible for the thefts, court papers said.

“I definitely don’t want to go to jail but it’s me,” he allegedly told police.

Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463; hefley@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @dianahefley.