Herald staff
A former property room manager for the Mountlake Terrace Police Department was charged Thursday with first-degree theft for allegedly taking money that was being held as evidence.
Lana Kay Rice, 42, of Marysville ran the property room from 1995 to April 1998. The property room is the repository for various forms of evidence confiscated during criminal investigations.
In 1998, she became the city’s code enforcement officer.
Early this year, Rice gave a city deputy treasurer several evidence cards and plastic evidence envelopes containing more than $2,100, according to charging papers filed by deputy prosecutor William Joice. The deputy treasure was suspicious and notified police administration.
The city turned the investigation over to the Washington State Patrol, and detectives served a search warrant at her home.
Investigators found documents concerning eight more Mountlake Terrace criminal cases, and a notebook listing the cases and specific amounts of money, documents said.
Rice said she took about $5,650 "to feed her children," Joice wrote in papers, adding her ex-husband was behind on child support.
According to documents, she kept detailed accounts of the money so she could repay it.
In April, Rice delivered two checks to the city totaling $2,400 and a letter of apology, Joice said.
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