Tacoma Art Museum fires donation-thieving employee

The Tacoma Art Museum is out of some cash and one of its employees is out of their job, the museum announced Wednesday.

TAM fired the employee after discovering the person allegedly stole cash from the downtown museum’s cash donation container.

Director Stephanie Stebich became aware of the theft June 25 after video cameras recorded the employee taking an unknown amount of cash from the container, a statement said.

The employee later returned some of the money and, during a resulting investigation, “admitted to a personal crisis that resulted in poor decision-making,” the statement said.

The employee was fired July 2.

“This has been a deeply disheartening event,” Stebich said in the statement. “The amount of cash taken was not large, but for a nonprofit organization like ours that depends on the support and trust of our donors and the public, every single dollar counts.”

TAM would not disclose whether the employee had been arrested. Stebich said the museum was disclosing the theft because it wanted to assure donors it “will not tolerate any behaviors that violate your trust.”

Tacoma police did not find any calls for service from the museum’s address or filed under the museum’s name, spokeswoman Loretta Cool said.

Without further information, such as a suspect’s name, the department could not determine Wednesday whether a theft report had been made.

Since the theft, TAM has increased security and theft prevention at the museum.

This story was originally published July 15, 2015 at 5:38 PM with the headline "Tacoma Art Museum fires donation-thieving employee."