Audit: No Discipline For Sacramento Utilities Worker Who Stole, Copied Master Key

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — A Sacramento auditor report obtained by CBS13 shows a Sacramento utilities worker caught stealing in the workplace was able to keep his job.

The heavily redacted report describes the Case of workplace theft.

The report reads a utilities employee "admitted to stealing" a master key from a supervisor's locker. The worker listened-in and "overheard the combination and then used it to steal the master key" and "made a duplicate of the key."

The report shows the master key went to a storage room in the utilities corporation yard, that included time sheets and former employee personnel records.

There's no proof those items, or anything else was stolen using the key. But the employee who stole the key never received any discipline.

CBS's Steve Large asked Utilities Director Bill Busath about the report

"Can you tell me what it would take to be fired in the utilities department?," Large said.

"I can't comment on that. There's a myriad of different things that could cause someone to be terminated." Busath said.

"But not stealing a key and having a copy made?" Large said.

"In this particular case I agree that this employee should have received formal discipline," Busath said.

Busath says he was unaware of the incident until he whistleblower report was made. The supervisors who handled the case received new training.

This report follows several other auditor reports critical of the utilities department. One described Utilities workers doing drugs and having sex on the job. Another report described the appearance of nepotism inside the utilities department.