SALT LAKE CITY — A former employee of the Utah Transit Authority was sentenced to jail Thursday after pleading guilty to stealing more than $2 million from taxpayers.
David Leroy Healy will serve 364 days in the Salt Lake County Jail for his crimes.
Healy plead guilty to pattern of unlawful activity, a second-degree felony and misuse of public funds, a third-degree felony.
According to the Salt Lake District Attorney's Office, prosecution recovered about $2.3 million in money and assets including:
- $191,215.21 held in accounts at Mountain America Credit Union
- $649,837.46 contained in various accounts at Cyprus Credit Union
- $1,478,794.00 contained in an escrow account at Zion’s Bank
- 2015 Dodge Ram 1500
- 2019 Jeep Cherokee
- Coin Collection
- Ruger Revolver
- UTA Employee Retirement Pension
Some of the items still need appraisal, however the estimated total for all recovered items is $2,319,846.67. Part of the plea agreement included restitution for the money Healy stole.
The case began in October of 2019 when a concerned citizen called in a tip that they saw what looked like a UTA vehicle come to their neighborhood and take buckets of money.
When the original case was filed, FOX 13 News reported that Healy was stealing money from bus fare boxes and exchanging them for cash at a Walmart.
"This person saw [Healy] taking what looked like buckets of coins and then also... was at a Walmart and saw them dumping that into the coin changer and kind of added two and two together and then notified local authorities," said Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill.
Investigators looked into the tip and found disparity between Healy's salary and assets in his possesion.
"The subsequent investigation based on what was observed was that here was a person who was going to multiple different places making deposits," said Gill. "He was taking these coins [and that led to] a search warrant and subsequent filing."
During the search warrant, Gill explained that investigators found nearly a million dollars at his house in cash and coins.
While the investigation could only look back four years from the filing date in 2019, it was evident that Healy had been stealing money for some time, Gill explained.
"I think it also demonstrated that balances are critical for management of those resources that maybe UTA needs to take a look at," Gill remarked. "There was certainly a flaw in their system that allowed this to happen for such a period of time without any kind of notice or any kind of suspicion that occurred."
Gill commends the unnamed citizen who was alert enough to tell authorities when they saw suspicious behavior.
"We would have had somebody who would have gotten away with stealing public monies for a long period of time," Gill said. "So I reall want to just commend that citizen, they know who they are. Thank you for your service."
Utah Transit authority spokesperson Carl Arky said in a statement to FOX 13 News that UTA has worked closely with the District Attorney in the case.
"UTA is satisfied Mr. Healy has acknowledged his guilt and responsibility for theft of public money," the statement reads in part. "UTA is confident that all possible public funds have been recovered. To ensure the protection of public funds in the future, UTA has taken significant steps since this case to implement very robust preventive measures."
