Police: Custodian takes student’s wallet, uses debit card to buy gas, lottery tickets | Poconos and Coal Region
POCONO SUMMIT, Pa. – Monroe County Police say a custodian took a student’s wallet and then used a debit card from the wallet at a nearby gas station.
Galvin Dudley, 45, of Henryville, is charged with access device fraud, possession of a criminal instrument, theft of lost or misplaced property, theft of personal property and receipt of stolen property.
A student at Pocono Mountain West Junior High School in Pocono Summit reported that he lost his wallet while participating in an after-school activity at the gym on Oct. 5, according to a Pocono Mountain Regional Police Department press release.
According to police, the wallet contained over $50 in cash, debit cards and ID cards. On October 6, the school administration checked the school’s supervisory staff and resource officer to determine if the wallet had been found and/or turned in. The wallet was found not to have been found or given to the school, police said.
The school administration then reviewed the camera footage from the gymnasium. The student who reported the lost wallet is sitting in the stands with a friend, police said.
After the event, the youth is seen leaving the gym, according to the press release. The stands are then retracted by security guards and a black object was seen on the ground directly below where the youth had been sitting.
The gym floor was clean except for the object, police said. Camera footage further revealed that Dudley, who was a precinct administrator, enters the gym, sees the object, picks it up and walks off camera, according to police.
The school resource officer later asked Dudley if he had found or taken anything in the gym. Dudley said he didn’t find a wallet and then hung up on him, according to police.
Police then learned from the student and his father that a charge of $77.81 had appeared on one of the debit cards on Oct. 6, according to a press release. The charges were filed at a gas station near West Junior High School. Police said they learned the card was stolen on October 5.
Police said they reviewed additional camera footage and observed Dudley leaving school without punching out on the evening of October 5. Dudley is leaving school grounds in his personal vehicle, police said. Dudley then drives to the gas station where the card was used and is being watched on camera, according to police.
Dudley then buys petrol and lottery tickets, police said. Dudley then returns to school immediately, according to police.
