A former city of Hartford employee has been arrested for allegedly stealing marijuana and pills from the police department's property room, which she was responsible for overseeing.
Liza Aponte, 40, of Hartford turned herself in to police Sept. 23 and was charged with two counts of second-degree larceny and two counts of unlawful removal of records.
Police said Aponte, a civilian city of Hartford clerk who had been hired in January, stole three bags of property from the Hartford Police Department's property room, which stores evidence including drugs, money, jewelry and weapons.
Authorities began investigating Aponte, who was assigned to the property room, after a supervisor noticed a bag of marijuana was missing and contacted the city's Internal Affairs Division.
A full audit revealed two more bags were gone. Police said all three contained small amounts of marijuana. One also contained an unknown type of pills.
Hartford police said all three bags had been submitted as "found property" and were not connected to any criminal investigations or proceedings.
Aponte was transferred during the investigation and was fired Sept. 3 "after the appropriate administrative process," according to police. Authorities said surveillance footage and logging records linked Aponte to the crime.
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Police obtained an arrest warrant for Aponte on Sept. 21. She turned herself in two days later, and a judge set her bond at $10,000. It's not clear if she has an attorney.
Hartford police said "further safeguards have been put in place to prevent civilians from misappropriating evidence."
