Press Release Polk County Sheriff’s Department
On Friday, September 16, 2016, PCSO Deputies arrested a Polk County School Board employee for one count Grand Theft (F-3). The suspect,
47-year-old Fontello Joboham of Winter Haven, removed $1,080.00 cash from the victim’s purse on three separate occasions, while the purse was in a desk drawer in an office at the Florida Diagnostic Learning and Resources
System center where both the victim and suspect work.
The following is an excerpt from the probable cause portion of the affidavit, and is self-explanatory:
On 09/16/16, a grand theft was reported at a Polk County School Board office located at 698 Cessna Street, Bartow. During the investigation, it was learned that the victim had a large amount of money removed from her purse while at work. Contact was made with
the victim who provided a sworn recorded statement. Through the course of this investigation, the following information was learned:
The victim is an employee of the Polk County School Board – Florida Diagnostic and Learning Resources System. The victim’s title is Technology Specialist. The victim works out of the office located at 698 Cessna Street, Bartow, which is located on the Bartow
Airbase.
The suspect is also an employee of the Polk County School Board – Florida Diagnostic and Learning Resources System. The suspect’s title is Planning and Assessment Specialist. The suspect works out of the office located at 698 Cessna Street, Bartow, which is
located on the Bartow Airbase. The suspect is in charge of payroll, vouchers for travel, and most things relating to Human Resources.
The victim explained that on 09/02/16, she placed one thousand dollars ($1,000 USD) in a Wells Fargo money envelope in the main part of her purse because she made plans to pay her rent after work. The victim arrived to work, placed her purse in the top drawer
of her desk and continued with her day which included going in and out of her office for training. At the end of the day on 09/02/16, the victim returned to her office, gathered her purse and looked for her keys and money. The victim located her car keys,
but could not find the one thousand ($1,000 USD) dollars cash. The victim began searching her office, looked through her purse and searched her car, but was not able to find the cash. The victim returned home and asked her family members if they knew what
happened to the rent money, but no one knew.
On 09/07/16, the victim had eighty ($80) dollars cash in her purse. She went to McDonald’s and purchased breakfast before driving to work. The breakfast cost approximately seven dollars and fifty cents ($7.50). This left the victim with approximately seventy-two
($72 USD) dollars that she folded inside the McDonald’s receipt. The victim placed the money and receipt in the outside zippered pocket of her purse and drove to work. Upon arrival to work, the victim placed her purse in the top drawer of her desk, like she
does each day, and ate her breakfast. At approximately 1130 hrs -1140 hrs, the victim returned to her office and checked her purse to ensure she had enough money to pay for lunch. The victim noticed the seventy-two ($72 USD) dollars was missing from her purse.
She checked her purse and office, but could not locate the money.
On the evening of 09/07/16, the victim decided to download a surveillance program onto her agency issued work laptop because she wanted to find out who is continuing to remove her money from her purse.
On 09/14/16, the victim arrived to work at 0730 hours, placed her purse in the top drawer of her desk and prepared for the in-house training she was teaching on this date. Inside the victim’s purse was a CB bank envelope with eight ($8 USD) located
in the outside zippered pocket. This pocket was zipped closed when she placed her purse in the top drawer of her desk.
Before leaving her office for training, the victim activated the surveillance program on her laptop and left the laptop opened and facing the direction of the drawer containing her purse. The victim then left her office with the door opened and the light on.
The victim’s training took place in the computer lab that is located diagonally across the hall from her office. The victim was in training from 0800 hrs until approximately 1130 hrs – 1140 hrs when they broke for lunch. When the victim returned to her office
for her lunch break, the victim checked to see if anything was missing from her purse. The victim noticed the CB money envelope and the eight ($8 USD) dollars was missing from her purse.
The victim checked the video surveillance footage and discovered the suspect entered the victim’s office at approximately 1011 hrs, opened the victim’s top desk drawer, began pilfering through the victim’s purse while nervously looking over her shoulder
frequently. The suspect is then seen removing the victim’s entire purse from the drawer and leaving the view of the laptop’s camera. The suspect returns to the victim’s office and placed the victim’s purse back into the top drawer of the victim’s desk at approximately
1014 hours.
After viewing this surveillance video, the victim said she became physically ill and threw up a couple of times. At approximately 1240 hrs, the victim got herself together and returned to the computer lab to complete the training for the remainder of the day.
After work, the victim returned home.
On 09/16/16, the victim decided to speak with her supervisor regarding the money that was removed from her purse on three (3) separate dates. The victim spoke with her supervisor and showed her the surveillance video. The victim and her supervisor then notified
the Director of this incident who notified law enforcement.
It should be noted that the victim never gave anyone, to include the suspect, permission to enter her office, remove her purse, nor remove any money from her purse.
As a result of this investigation, it was determined the suspect did knowingly and intentionally enter the victim’s office, knowingly and intentionally removed the victim’s purse from the victim’s desk, and returned the victim’s purse to the desk drawer a few
minutes later, all without permission from the victim. This coupled with evidence from the surveillance video of the incident, it was determined the suspect did commit the offense of Grand Theft. The total amount of money stolen was one thousand eighty ($1,080
USD) dollars.
The suspect was transported to Polk County Jail without further incident.
Joboham is being held on $1,000 bond. Attached is her mugshot, and below is a video from the victim’s video surveillance system that she loaded onto her laptop. Please direct any inquiries about the suspect’s employment to the Polk C
