OC Airport Employee Charged With Theft

OCEAN CITY – An Ocean City Municipal Airport employee was charged this week with felony theft after an audit at the facility revealed she allegedly pocketed cash payments made for a hangar rental.

An Ocean City auditor recently conducted a routine audit of airport accounts and discovered one hangar rental contract was overdue for payment. When the customer was contacted regarding payment, he explained he had paid an airport employee, later identified as Joy Babcock, 50, of Salisbury, in cash for the hangar rental.

Ocean City Police detectives got involved in the investigation and learned the hangar rental customer made two cash payments, one in July 2007 and another in January 2008. Investigators determined Babcock took the payments but never made the deposits, keeping the cash instead.

Babcock has been charged with two counts of felony theft and one count of felony theft scheme. Her employment has been suspended without pay pending the outcome of her case.