FL Supervisor Stole N95 Masks Bought For First Responders: Cops
DORAL, FL — A supervisor who worked for a Florida city just outside Miami has been accused of stealing nearly 1,000 N95 masks that were bought to protect his fellow essential workers and police officers from the new coronavirus.
Forty-five-year-old Michel Merchan was charged Wednesday with grand theft and grand theft of medical equipment after he was seen on surveillance video taking the masks, authorities said.
“It’s really sad. It’s disappointing that with everything we have to deal with now, that we have to arrest a city employee for stealing — of all things — medical equipment,” Rey Valdes of the Doral Police Department told Patch. “No one is above the law, and we will apply zero tolerance, which is what we did in this case.”
Fortunately, no one had to go without a mask, according to Valdes.
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“Obviously, we’re going to have to replace these because we haven’t located them, and he’s not telling us where they are,” Valdes said. “But it didn’t cause a shortage, or it didn’t cause anyone to go without. This was just to further increase our stockpile.”
Merchan, who was hired in September, supervised a team of public works employees who are responsible for maintaining all city buildings, including the police headquarters.
In addition to 960 N95 masks, Mechan is also accused of taking protective gloves as well as surgical masks that were part of a shipment received during the first week in April.
City officials learned the protective gear was missing during an inventory check.
“When they were doing the inventory, they noticed that they came up 960 masks of the N95 that were short,” Valdes said.
City workers identified Mechan through surveillance video, authorities said.
“They observed this gentleman as he took the boxes, opened them, unpacked them, repacked them and put them in his city-issued vehicle,” Valdes said.
One city worker told police Mechan asked him to lie about the shipment, Valdes said.
“When he realized that his superiors suspected something, he called a co-worker and told him, ‘Listen, if they ask you about that particular shipment, tell them that the shipment was short,'” Valdes said.
Valdes said Mechan denied the allegations.
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“When we brought him in for questioning, we said, ‘Where are the masks?'” according to Valdes. “He said, ‘What masks? What are you talking about?'”
Valdes said Mechan’s girlfriend cooperated with the investigation.
“She voluntarily gave us two boxes of surgical masks that apparently were also taken — brand new boxes of the same brand and model that the city had ordered,” Valdes said.