OCEAN CITY — A local man was arrested on theft charges last week after allegedly pinching money from a business’s safe where he worked.
Around 6:30 p.m. last Friday, an Ocean City Police Department (OCPD) officer responded to a nightclub on 17th Street to investigate an alleged theft. The officer met with the club owner, who advised he suspected a member of his security staff of stealing money from a safe in the office on the first floor.
The business owner told police he noticed roughly $3,000 missing from the safe on Sunday, July 21. The owner told the investigating officer he suspected the money had been taken Saturday, July 20 or early Sunday, July 21. The owner told police after he discovered the theft, he bought a security camera and installed it in the ceiling of the office where the safe is located.
The business owner told police he suspected the culprit would strike again and hoped to catch the suspect with the surveillance camera. Last Friday, the business owner made copies of $900 he put in the safe and waited for the suspect to strike again. Sure enough, the suspect, Chad Cirigliano, 40, of Berlin, was captured on surveillance video entering the office and manipulating the safe around 6:55 p.m. on Friday, July 26.
According to police reports, in the surveillance video, Cirigliano was observed entering the office and approaching the safe. Cirigliano reportedly manipulated the safe’s handle and combination knob with his left hand, while reaching with his right hand to manipulate a plastic bag on a shelf above the safe.
The surveillance video showed Cirigliano only approached the safe when he was alone in the office. The investigating officer speculated Cirigliano fiddled with the plastic bag on the shelf to misdirect attention of anyone who might enter the office while he was manipulating the safe and provide him with an excuse for being in the area.
The OCPD officer met with Cirigliano inside the establishment last Friday. When asked about the money he had taken from the safe, Cirigliano reportedly told the officer he had no idea what he was talking about. According to police reports, Cirigliano told police he had only closed the door to the safe after finding it open. Based on the video surveillance evidence, Cirigliano was arrested and charged with theft from $100 to under $1,500.
