SAN ANTONIO – A city of San Antonio maintenance supervisor resigned last month after an investigation determined that he stole tools from the Central Library and later sold them at several area pawn shops.
The March 5 resignation of Richard Garcia came six months after he was promoted to a supervisory position assigned to the Central Library, according to personnel records provided to the KSAT 12 Defenders.
Garcia, a 17-year veteran of the Army, was reported by an official with the city's Office of Municipal Integrity to San Antonio police.
An SAPD theft report indicates that investigators were able to recover items allegedly taken by Garcia at three San Antonio pawn shops.
SAPD handed over its case to the Bexar County District Attorney's Office earlier this month, according to Sgt. Michelle Ramos, an SAPD spokeswoman.
Because Garcia is accused of theft while working as a public servant, he will face a felony if formally charged, according to Ramos.
"In this case, you had so much evidence and they had the recovered property, so they could move forward with those criminal charges, and in this case, they did so," Ramos said.
The hundreds of dollars of recovered tools consisted of a motorized heavy-duty drain cleaner, a 6-foot level, an inspection camera, a hammer drill and a reciprocating saw, according to the SAPD report.
Managers at all three pawn shops refused to comment for this story.
"A lot of time when these cases come forward and officers go to those locations to recover some of the property, especially in the cases when we have serial numbers, they have been very helpful in getting that property back to us," Ramos said.
SAPD officials have not said if they believe Garcia had taken equipment from the library in the past.
A library spokeswoman declined to comment, citing the open criminal investigation.
Garcia had received positive employee reviews and as recently as 2015 was described as an "excellent employee," according to his personnel file.