L.A. Rec and Parks Employee Arrested for Pilfering 800 Gallons from the City

A month after the uproar when Los Angeles City Controller Wendy Greuel released a scathing report that $7 million in fuel expenditures were unaccounted for, a city employee and a city resident were arrested after a lengthy investigation into gasoline thefts from City fueling facilities.

Southeast Detectives received a tip that someone was stealing gasoline from City fueling facilities in April and that the suspect was possibly a Los Angeles City Department of Recreation and Parks employee. Surveillance was set up on fuel stations at Southeast and 77th Street Area Community Police Stations and a Department of Transportation fueling site. After many hours of surveillance two suspects were identified.

On May 21, 2012, 46-year-old Michael Anthony Lee, a 12-year veteran of the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks, assigned to Algin Sutton Recreation Center, and an accomplice, 47-year-old Shane Anthony Gansterer, a resident of Los Angeles, were arrested by Southeast Detectives. Lee was booked for Embezzlement and is being held on $50,000 bail. Gansterer was booked for Receiving Stolen Property and is being held on $20,000 bail. Lee was reportedly on duty when the thefts occurred. He is believed responsible for stealing more than 800 gallons of gasoline over a three month period of time.