City of Richmond Implements Security Measures at Department of Social Services

Last month, a youth intern at the Department of Social Services who was supposed to be washing and detailing city vehicles took off with three cars.

• By Jessica Davis
• Nov 16, 2018

The City of Richmond, Va., is increasing security around its city vehicles after three cars were stolen by an intern last month.

Last month, a youth intern at the Department of Social Services who was supposed to be washing and detailing city vehicles took off with three cars. The stolen vehicles were recovered by Richmond and Henrico Police.

As a result of the theft, new security measures have been put in place at the DSS. New protocols have been put in place for monitoring city car mileage, and a gate has been installed at the DSS parking lot to restrict entry by anyone without a City ID.

As to how the vehicles were stolen in the first place, it seems nobody asked the intern to return the keys after they cleaned the cars.

"We did see that documentation wasn't maintained properly, how the keys were distributed and received back wasn't done properly," said Craig Johnson, an investigation manager from the Richmond Office of Inspector General.  

The intern was arrested and the case is being handled by the Commonwealth Attorney’s Office.