Now that's some laundry money.

[Shockeye]

Don't Keep The Change

May 7, 2005 9:32 am US/Eastern
(1010 WINS) (WHITE PLAINS) The man who was in charge of emptying the parking meters in Mount Kisco has been accused of stealing more than $30,000 one quarter at at time.

Jason Berke, 29, a supervisory parking enforcement officer, was arrested on a charge of grand larceny, Westchester District Attorney Jeanine Pirro said Friday.

Berke's lawyer, James Lenihan, said Berke pleaded innocent at his arraignment Thursday night. ``Nobody has bothered to tell me how they even determined that my client did anything wrong,'' Lenihan said.

The district attorney said Berke stole quarters that he and other officers collected from the village's parking meters between April and December 2004. He allegedly transferred varying numbers of quarters from money bags to a camera bag, then moved the camera bag from his patrol vehicle to his own car.

About once a week, he would deposit the stolen quarters into machines in grocery stores that provide receipts, which he would then redeem for cash at the store, Pirro said.

Village officials, suspecting a loss of parking-meter revenue, changed the meter collection procedures in January and the thefts stopped, the district attorney said.

In convicted, Berke would face a maximum sentence of two years and four months to seven years.