TRAVERSE CITY -- It appears the person responsible for pilfering more than $16,000 from a Grand Traverse County Jail inmate fund won't face charges.
That weighs heavily on Michigan State Police Detective Sgt. Mark Henschell, who spent more than a year investigating the case.
Henschell remains confident a jail employee stole the money, and he knows the incident cast a negative light on everyone employed at the facility.
"I feel bad for the guys that work there ... it transcends to the employees that do it right, and it bothers me that I wasn't able to solve it for them."
From December 2003 to January 2005, $16,120 worth of deposits to the jail's commissary fund vanished before making it into the account. Inmates use the money in the form of credits to buy items from a jail store.
The case hasn't been closed, but hope is fading more than two years after Henschell's investigation began in August 2005.
"There has been no more information and no more leads to follow-up," he said.
State police were tapped to handle the investigation once it became apparent jail employees likely played a role in the thefts.
Henschell's investigation was hampered by poor accounting practices at the jail, he said.
"Some of the accounting practices that were being followed at that time didn't help the investigation because it allowed there to be gaps in the checks and balances," he said.
The number of people with access to the money also led to problems, Henschell said.
Sheriff Scott Fewins told the Record-Eagle in late 2005 the investigation focused on four jail employees, including three sergeants, who had regular access to the account. State police broadened the investigation to include all jail employees, but most were eliminated as suspects.
Henschell said previously at least one person considered a suspect no longer works at the jail.
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