Former South Tucson finance supervisor Sylvia Salomon faces six counts of theft by control related to unauthorized use of a city-issued credit card.
The Pima County Attorney’s Office filed a complaint listing the misdemeanor charges on May 20. Her arraignment has been set for June 10.
South Tucson investigators say Salomon made six purchases totaling about $770 without approval, the police report showed.
The purchases included a Samsung Galaxy S4 and an Otterbox case, a dozen champagne flutes, a night at a Hyatt hotel in Phoenix, and brake pads, drums and rotors for her son’s Chevy Impala, the report showed.
Salomon’s credit-card statements were scrutinized as part of an investigation into more than $71,000 in cash receipts that went missing over the past two years.
That investigation continues, City Manager Luis Gonzales said Friday. He hopes to persuade an outside law-enforcement agency to take over the inquiry next week.
So far, South Tucson investigators have interviewed each member of the finance department and discovered that Salomon was largely in charge of depositing the cash received by the city into its bank accounts. However, she made no deposits between November 2013 and February 2014, the report said.
Investigators found more than $32,000 in cash in unsecured bags and envelopes in the city’s finance office after Salomon was disciplined in March with a week’s leave without pay. One envelope, which included a cash register receipt, appeared to be missing more than $5,000.
Finance staff also found several checks made out to the City of South Tucson — some several months old — in Salomon’s work area, the report said. Front-desk staff said they had received inquiries from local vendors about why their checks had not cleared.
City Clerk Veronica Moreno and Office Manager Denise Valencia also said Salomon regulated a practice in which city employees bought auto parts from Merle’s Automotive Supply through the city’s account, then repaid the amount later, the report said.
Employees benefited from a discount and delayed payment, and would typically employ city Fleet Management Supervisor Richard Bracamonte, who facilitated the deal, to do the labor through his private business, according to the report.
Salomon could not be reached for comment.
She resigned March 11 after being disciplined and moved to another department.
Investigators subpoenaed her bank account information but did not find evidence of the missing cash, the police report said.
Salomon had worked for the city since 1992, according to her LinkedIn profile.
