Campus safety officer arrested, caught stealing
28-year-old could face felony charges in theft
BY JOE WATSON
FOR THE MESA LEGEND
Submitted April 10, 2001
A part-time MCC campus safety officer was arrested March 26 on three counts
of misdemeanor theft after certified MCC peace officers caught her stealing
items that were supposed to be logged into lost and found.
Additional charges are pending against Mary Melissa Zimmerman, 28, said
Capt. Lynn Bray of the MCC campus safety department.
Zimmerman was hired last November, and admitted to Mesa Police that she
stole a 35mm camera valued at approximately $100 and around $30 in cash
from a purse left in the social and cultural sciences according to Bray.
She was also charged for the theft of approximately $60 in cash from
another purse lost on MCC grounds, however, it was unclear whether she
had admitted to that crime.
"This matter is still under investigation," said Bray, "so
there are a lot of things we can’t disclose at this time."
According to log books, Zimmerman was on duty when several items were
either reported left behind by students or instructors, or they had been
turned into campus safety.
As their only suspect, campus safety peace officers, including Bray,
planted a wallet containing $39 cash inside a classroom on the south end
of campus March 26. Officers then informed Zimmerman, who was almost finished
with her shift, that a wallet had been reported missing and that she needed
to pick it up.
When Zimmerman returned, only $9 remained in the wallet, Bray said.
He then called Mesa Police who stopped Zimmerman before she left campus.
"I’m personally disappointed," said Dennis Coking, an
MCC certified peace officer who hired Zimmerman because "she seemed
very sincere, and she seemed like she really needed a job.
Now I have to change the way I pay attention to what goes on around this
office. Part of me wants to blame myself for not seeing the signs."
Upon stopping her, Mesa Police found several credit cards and checks
in Zimmerman’s car that were not in her name.
If they are stolen, then Zimmerman, who has been terminated from her
position, may face felony charges.
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