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Probation officer charged with grand theft

By ABHI RAGHUNATHAN
Published September 1, 2006

ST. PETERSBURG - As a probation officer at the Salvation Army, Cedrick Hayes was supposed to make sure his clients were paying their debts and obeying the law.

Instead, authorities say he used his position to swindle his charges out of at least $6,849. Hayes collected money that his clients owed for fines, but pocketed the cash instead of turning it over to court officials, the Sheriff’s Office said.

Hayes, 27, was arrested Friday morning on a felony charge of grand theft. The Sheriff’s Office said he stole from at least 12 people, and perhaps more.

Detective David Kavanagh, the lead Sheriff’s Office investigator on the case, said several people lost their driver licenses for failing to make court-ordered payments, and one woman even had a lien placed on her house.

“The way he was concealing these things, a lot of times it took a while for the clients to come forward,” Kavanagh said.

Steve Dick, a public affairs officer for the Salvation Army, said Army officials terminated Hayes after learning of the allegations and paid restitution to his victims.

The Salvation Army contracts with Pinellas County to provide probation supervision for all misdemeanor offenders. Probation officers make sure that offenders follow the orders of judges and pay fines and other fees.

The Army forbids officers from directly accepting cash or money orders from the offenders they supervise. Hayes violated that order, Dick said, by asking the people he supervised to pay him instead of a separate cashier.

Hayes worked at the Salvation Army’s St. Petersburg office for about seven years, Kavanagh said.

Salvation Army officials said they heard about allegations involving Hayes when he became ill and had to go to the hospital, the Sheriff’s Office said. A supervisor took over the misdemeanor offenders Hayes supervised, and one of them told him how Hayes made them pay him directly.

Anyone with information can call the Sheriff’s Office at (727) 582-6200.

- Times researcher John Martin contributed to this report. Abhi Raghunathan can be reached at araghunathan@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8472.

[Last modified September 1, 2006, 19:28:12]