Ex-Sacramento police employee accused of stealing items from property warehouse | The Sacramento Bee

A former civilian employee with the Sacramento Police Department has been arrested, accused of taking unclaimed items from the department’s property warehouse.

Ronald Olsen, 60, worked for the Police Department for 33 years. In June, an employee of the department’s evidence and property section became suspicious as to the whereabouts of a missing piece of property that was scheduled for disposal. The information was forwarded to the Internal Affairs Division and an investigation was initiated, according to a Police Department news release. Investigators determined that due to the severity of the allegations, a separate criminal investigation would be launched, police said.

Olsen, a program analyst assigned to the Police Department’s evidence and property section for the last two years, was placed on administrative leave shortly after the investigations began. As a result of the investigations, Olsen is accused of stealing from the property warehouse approximately three dozen unclaimed items marked or identified for disposal.

Police said the stolen items included electronics, hand tools and musical instruments, and did not include weapons, drugs or contraband. Some of the items were recovered during the investigation.

At the time they were taken, none of the items was identified as having evidentiary value or was connected to a criminal investigation, according to police.

Olsen resigned from the Police Department on Aug. 7, during the investigation. He was arrested Friday on suspicion of grand theft and possession of stolen property.

Police officials said detectives are working closely with the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office, which will determine the charges to be filed following a review of the investigators’ findings.