Jan. 19--A man was charged earlier this month with stealing prescription pills while on the job as a Maplewood fire marshal and building inspector last year, according to St. Louis County court documents.
Russell Todd, 55, was charged with one count of stealing a controlled substance on Jan. 5 after he was caught on camera stealing the hydrocodone pills from the locked desk drawer of a City Hall colleague, authorities said.
Police Officer Jeff Williams had noticed numerous prescription hydrocodone pills disappearing from his desk last July, Maplewood Police Chief Stephen Kruse said.
Maplewood detectives placed 10 pills in the locked desk drawer and set up a hidden surveillance camera, which captured Todd removing six of the pills from the drawer. Todd was arrested on Aug. 8 and questioned by police, Kruse said. He admitted to stealing pills on several occasions between June and August 2011, according to the court documents.
Todd worked for the city of Maplewood from Feb. 2007 until Aug. 8, when he resigned, said City Manager Marty Corcoran.
Corcoran said he was "surprised" by the alleged crime and that he hasn't seen anything like this before in his 28 years with the city.
Copyright 2012 - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
