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Police say custodian lived in hospital and stole items

Hospital Safety Connection, April 21, 2004

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An employee at Four Winds Hospital in Syracuse began secretly living at the facility several months ago after being evicted from his apartment, the Syracuse Post-Standard reports.

Administrators at the private psychiatric hospital say they were unaware Gregory Brown, 47, was staying at the facility. They did not say whether Brown has been fired.

Police charged Brown with burglary and larceny, accusing him of taking items from the hospital. Officials learned of Brown's living arrangement after police received reports of thefts from several offices.

Hospital officials began reviewing surveillance tapes to try to determine who was responsible for the thefts, which included a missing computer from one office and $50 from a department. There were no signs of forced entry, leading police to suspect the thief was someone with access to different areas of the facility.

Brown was working as a custodian and had master keys, working the 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. shift. After administrators found videotapes showing him coming and going at different hours of the evening, they confronted Brown. He admitted he had been sleeping in a storage room at the hospital since being evicted from his apartment more than three months ago for not paying his rent.

A hospital spokesman said the hospital had no knowledge of Brown's occupancy of the storage room and if he asked to stay, would not have allowed it. Brown acknowledged taking the computer and the money, but could not recall everything he'd stolen, police said.

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