Meter Inspector and Wife Apprehended in €1m Meter Embezzlement Investigation
A meter attendant and his spouse have been detained on allegations of embezzling more than €1m out of the coin-operated meters of a small town in Germany.
The unnamed municipal employee is thought to have removed coins from street meters in Kempten on multiple occasions and deposited them in bank accounts that his spouse had access to, authorities said in a statement.
A money laundering report by a credit institution notified investigators to the suspected theft. The parking inspector has been accused with numerous charges of theft, while his spouse faces 720 counts of assisting in theft.
The town's Head the mayor said he was shocked and dismayed by the claims.
In the fall, the Kempten public prosecutor's office were informed that money was repeatedly being deposited into several accounts, according to sources.
Officers then raided work locations in the morning of November 24, the same day that a 40-year-old man and a woman in her late thirties were arrested.
They are now being held in different jails.
It is uncertain how long it might have taken the pair to accrue the amount.
In response to the accusations, Kiechle announced the formation of a committee to review previous procedures, uncover possible flaws, and effectively remedy them for the future.
He noted that the identities of the couple could not currently be released due to the active probe and confidentiality issues.
In a official comment, Kiechle stated: "I naturally back the legal authorities and the police in their thorough inquiry of the allegations."
"Until the proceedings are concluded, the presumption of innocence applies," he continued.
The town is one of the most historic towns in Germany. Located in the country's south, it sits under the slopes of the Allgäu region and has approximately seventy thousand inhabitants.
