City employee is arrested for theft

CITY HALL — A longtime city of Burbank employee was arrested on Thursday on suspicion of felony grand theft after allegedly embezzling funds from a local Boy Scout troop, officials said.

Burbank Police arrested Jolene Elliot, 43, a city employee for 25 years, for allegedly stealing funds from Boy Scout Troop 210 in Burbank, between Jan. 24, 2004 and April 17, 2006, said Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.

A committee for the Boy Scouts reported that about $10,000 was missing from agency accounts during Elliot's tenure as treasurer for the troop, Burbank Police Sgt. Kevin Grandalski said.

The committee conducted an independent audit to trace account discrepancies and notified the Police Department about losses earlier this week, leading to Thursday's arrest, he said.

"Going through the receipts enabled [police] to make the arrest," he said.

Paul Reyes, a district executive for the Boy Scouts, could not be reached for comment.

The District Attorney's Office requested that Elliot be held on $20,000 bail, but she was released on her own recognizance after a Burbank Superior Court judge determined that she was not a flight risk, Grandalski said.

Elliot has spent the last 10 years of her employment with the city as a municipal records clerk in the City Clerk's Office, Flad said.

Her work included helping out during elections, with the same responsibilities as an election volunteer, Flad said, adding that her work was always supervised.

Elliot is scheduled to appear in Burbank Superior Court on Oct. 4, Gibbons said.