What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Texas
Ok I am the lead maintenance technician for a large sized apartment community in Midland, TX. Earlier today I received a work order for a tenant about some urgent plumbing repairs that was already 2 days old. As is procedure, I checked out the keys from the lock box at 9:45 am, went to the tenants apartment, knocked twice with pause, and then used the office key to gain entry. Once inside the open door I yelled out "hello maintenance, is anybody home?" Upon receiving no answer, I entered the apartment, and proceeded to inspect the necessary repairs under the kitchen sink and in the bathroom shower. Additional parts were needed, so I set down my tool pouch on the kitchen floor, closed the door, and walked the 2 minutes back to my shop to retrieve the parts, and realized that I would need to drive down the block to Lowe's to pick up some additional copper fittings. After being gone for about 20 minutes, I returned to the apartment unit, entered, and performed the necessary repairs that took me until about 12:15 to complete. Upon completing the repairs, I gathered up my tools, cleaned up the mess I made under the kitchen sink and on the floor, wrote down the repairs made on the work request slip, and attached the tenant yellow copy to the door clip next to the front door that all of our units have mounted. I then returned to the office, turned in the key, and proceeded to my next work order in the same manner, before taking my hour lunch break. While in the middle of lunch, I received a telephone call from the manager at my property saying that the tenant who lives in the apartment that I had done the work at earlier that morning was in the office and stating that whoever was in her apartment that morning had taken about $400 dollars and a cell phone from the apartment. She had called the police and they were on their way to her apartment unit. I told my manager that I would be right there and I showed up about 15 minutes later. I arrived at the office and talked to my manager, to find out what was going on, and she informed me that the police were at her apartment. I told her that I wanted to go down there and talk to the officers and find out if I was being accused of this and what all I could and needed to do. Carrol suggested that she go down there with me and we proceeded to walk across the property and talk to the police officer that was making the report. I introduced myself and told him that I was the maintenance worker that was in her home earlier that morning. He asked me for my ID and wrote down all my contact information, and then informed me that the woman was claiming that I was the one who had stolen some money and which I came to find out then was an Ipod, not a cell phone. I told the officer that I most definitely did not take any money or property from her home, let alone even touch anything that I did not have to to make the repairs. He informed me that a report would be filed and that a detective would be contacting me to take another statement I guess and follow up with me. He also informed me that I was the only suspect and that "it didn't look good for me right now".
So, all I can say is unbeleivable. I do not know what to do, and and very worried about this. I absolutely DID NOT take anything from this woman, but it seems I was the only one there, so it looks like someone is lying. It is not me 110%. It is five days until Christmas and I would not have the heart to do that to somebody, but then again if I look at it from the police officer's point of view, I look very bad. WHAT DO I DO? WHAT CAN BE DONE ABOUT THIS? CAN I BE IN TROUBLE HERE EVEN IF I DID NOTHING WRONG? IMMEDIATE ANSWERS WOULD BE VERY VERY HELPFUL!!!!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!! Written 12/21/09 by Randy Christopherson
Ok I am the lead maintenance technician for a large sized apartment community in Midland, TX. Earlier today I received a work order for a tenant about some urgent plumbing repairs that was already 2 days old. As is procedure, I checked out the keys from the lock box at 9:45 am, went to the tenants apartment, knocked twice with pause, and then used the office key to gain entry. Once inside the open door I yelled out "hello maintenance, is anybody home?" Upon receiving no answer, I entered the apartment, and proceeded to inspect the necessary repairs under the kitchen sink and in the bathroom shower. Additional parts were needed, so I set down my tool pouch on the kitchen floor, closed the door, and walked the 2 minutes back to my shop to retrieve the parts, and realized that I would need to drive down the block to Lowe's to pick up some additional copper fittings. After being gone for about 20 minutes, I returned to the apartment unit, entered, and performed the necessary repairs that took me until about 12:15 to complete. Upon completing the repairs, I gathered up my tools, cleaned up the mess I made under the kitchen sink and on the floor, wrote down the repairs made on the work request slip, and attached the tenant yellow copy to the door clip next to the front door that all of our units have mounted. I then returned to the office, turned in the key, and proceeded to my next work order in the same manner, before taking my hour lunch break. While in the middle of lunch, I received a telephone call from the manager at my property saying that the tenant who lives in the apartment that I had done the work at earlier that morning was in the office and stating that whoever was in her apartment that morning had taken about $400 dollars and a cell phone from the apartment. She had called the police and they were on their way to her apartment unit. I told my manager that I would be right there and I showed up about 15 minutes later. I arrived at the office and talked to my manager, to find out what was going on, and she informed me that the police were at her apartment. I told her that I wanted to go down there and talk to the officers and find out if I was being accused of this and what all I could and needed to do. Carrol suggested that she go down there with me and we proceeded to walk across the property and talk to the police officer that was making the report. I introduced myself and told him that I was the maintenance worker that was in her home earlier that morning. He asked me for my ID and wrote down all my contact information, and then informed me that the woman was claiming that I was the one who had stolen some money and which I came to find out then was an Ipod, not a cell phone. I told the officer that I most definitely did not take any money or property from her home, let alone even touch anything that I did not have to to make the repairs. He informed me that a report would be filed and that a detective would be contacting me to take another statement I guess and follow up with me. He also informed me that I was the only suspect and that "it didn't look good for me right now".
So, all I can say is unbeleivable. I do not know what to do, and and very worried about this. I absolutely DID NOT take anything from this woman, but it seems I was the only one there, so it looks like someone is lying. It is not me 110%. It is five days until Christmas and I would not have the heart to do that to somebody, but then again if I look at it from the police officer's point of view, I look very bad. WHAT DO I DO? WHAT CAN BE DONE ABOUT THIS? CAN I BE IN TROUBLE HERE EVEN IF I DID NOTHING WRONG? IMMEDIATE ANSWERS WOULD BE VERY VERY HELPFUL!!!!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!! Written 12/21/09 by Randy Christopherson
