Detective Found Not Guilty Of Stealing Money From Store Customer
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - A judge has found a Pittsburgh Police detective not guilty of stealing an envelope full of cash from a 7-Eleven store.
Det. Michael Reddy faced one charge of theft, but Judge Jeffrey Manning called what happened a lapse in judgment and not a criminal act.
"I think it was the right verdict," said Reddy, "and very thankful for all the support and concern of everybody who showed up."
Surveillance video from the 7-Eleven on the North Side clearly shows Reddy picking up an envelope of cash that was left there by mistake by a worker who had cashed a check.
Detective Reddy came along a few minutes later and the surveillance video shows him taking the envelope with his left hand. He said he meant to turn it in but didn't report it to the store clerk and turned it over to his superiors after they called to inquire about it.
He eventually turned it in to his superiors after they called asking about the $200 in the envelope.
The worker, Robert Simpson, who eventually got his money back, told us in October he was amazed that a magistrate threw out the charges early on.
"I couldn't understand how someone that gets caught on video, taking something, just gets away with it," Simpson told Harold Hayes last fall.
Reddy's lawyer says his wife had just informed him she was pregnant with their fourth child that night.
"She just notified him about that shortly before this incident," said defense attorney James Wymard. "Then he was ordered to take certain evidence up to Mercer which was a three hour jaunt for him to have to undertake after he finished an eight hour tour of duty so there was a lot on his mind at that time."
After hearing a one-day, non-jury trial, which included character witnesses, the judge said Reddy could have done things differently, but did not commit a crime.
Reddy admits he should have done things differently.
"I owned up to my mistakes and obviously the judge heard the full testimony of everything and saw it just as that: some mistakes that I have made along the way but in no way was I guilty of those allegations," said Reddy.
When asked whether he could still work with the DA's office, he said he still disagrees with their decision to charge him but that he could work with them moving forward in the criminal justice system.
Reddy is still on paid administrative leave but hopes to return to his role as homicide detective.
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