Ex-UTA Worker Accused Of Stealing $400K From Bus Fare Boxes

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — A former Utah Transit Authority worker faced felony charges Tuesday as prosecutors accused the man of siphoning money from bus fare collection boxes for at least four years.

UTA equipment maintenance technician David Leroy Healy, 54, was charged with a second-degree felony pattern of unlawful activity, or in the alternative, felony theft and money laundering, as well as seven counts of misuse of public money.

“We were able to document the removal of fare boxes, the removal of money and then the depositing of the money,” said Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill. “We were able to learn that he had multiple bank accounts and almost $400,000 in savings that had moved through those accounts, on a salary of $53,000, $57,000 per year.”

Gill said Healy’s job gave him access to bus fare collection boxes.

According to charging documents, a neighbor first saw Healy transferring buckets of coins from his UTA vehicle to his garage, and subsequently witnessed the man exchanging a large number of coins at a Walmart.

Gill said that prompted a tip to police and UTA, who started observing Healy’s movements in September.

Charging documents outline multiple dates in which investigators observed Healy removing bus fareboxes and driving them to his house.

“He then exits the garage carrying a dark cloth bag that appears to be empty,” the documents stated of one observation period on Sept. 12. “He enters his UTA work vehicle and after a few moments, he exits the vehicle carrying the bag that now appears full and enters his garage.”

The documents said he did something similar that day with a white bucket.

Healy, investigators said, exchanged coins at multiple credit unions and then deposited them accounts.

One credit union’s employees told investigators Healy made frequent coin deposits, the documents stated.

UTA spokesman Carl Arky said Healy no longer worked for the organization as of Tuesday.

“It’s more than troubling,” he said.

Arky said UTA was conducting its own review and was bringing in an outside consulting firm to review its fare collection processes.

“Obviously we know that there are some problems and there are improvements that need to be made,” Arky said.

Both Arky and Gill commended UTA police officers for getting to the bottom of the case.

Gill noted the investigation was ongoing.

Healy was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on $50,000 bail.