A former evidence technician with the Bothell Police Department has been charged with first-degree theft by the King County Prosecutor after an investigation found more than $51,500 missing from the evidence room.

William Lee Kenney, who worked with the department for more than two decades, was responsible for logging in and storing items such as cash, drugs, firearms and other pieces of evidence at the Bothell police station. In January 2015, Kenney, 62, called in sick to work while the Bothell Police conducted a regularly scheduled audit of the evidence room. Upon opening the the safe, support officers found that it was empty.

“Evidence records showed a number of items were recorded as stored in the safe, including several envelopes containing cash,” charging documents state. “They sent Kenney an email requesting a phone call.”

Kenney responded by email and admitted to stealing cash from the safe. He stated that he was going through a “nasty divorce” and had financial trouble, according to charging documents.

Kenney was fired a few days later.

“I found myself borrowing from the property room…” Kenney wrote, continuing on to say that it snowballed out of control.

Bothell police contacted the Washington State Patrol to conduct an audit of the evidence room and it revealed that $51,511.33 in cash was missing. They also found a stash of money in a place that it was not supposed to be. Kenney admitted that he had hid some cash in the evidence room that was supposed to be in the safe.

Kenney voluntarily met with investigators on Jan. 22, 2015 and admitted to stealing cash.

“Kenney admitted taking ‘conservatively’ around $20,000 in cash from the evidence room from September of 2012 until November of 2014,” the documents state.

The $31,511.33 discrepency has not been accounted for.

Kenney told investigators that the largest amount he took at one time was $1,000 and that he stole cash on eight to 10 occasions. He said that he took the money for groceries and to use at the casino.

Kenney was named Employee of the Year by the department in 2000.

Kenney is scheduled to be arraigned on the first-degree theft charge on Sept. 21.