An Alaska Power and Telephone employee reported $6,000 in cash stolen from the downtown business Thursday morning.
Darren Belisle, AP&T’s power manager for Haines and Skagway, said an employee discovered the money was missing from a locked desk on the morning of Nov. 13. After calling the police, the employee called Belisle at 6:50 a.m. to tell him what happened.
“Not a great start to my morning,” Belisle said.
Haines Borough Police Chief Bill Musser said he wouldn’t release information on the case because it is an ongoing theft investigation. Musser did say the building didn’t show signs of a break-in.
Belisle said he can’t recall anything like this happening before at the Haines office.
AP&T lineman Sonny Myers said employees aren’t being told much about the theft because police will be conducting individual interviews with each employee.
“They’re not saying anything. They want us to all go in like blank pieces of paper, I guess,” Myers said.
Myers said there is a safe at the business’s office at Second Avenue and Main Street, but the cash wasn’t in the safe for some reason. He said he had “no clue” why there was so much money in the building. “I don’t know what happened,” he said.
Myers estimated about eight employees have access to the building.
The crime would be considered second-degree theft, or a Class C felony. That level of felony carries a maximum sentence of up to five years in jail and/or up to a $50,000 fine.