UTA employee accused of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of coins from buses

TAYLORSVILLE – A former technician with UTA is charged with money laundering and misuse of public money after reportedly taking nearly $300,000 worth of coins over several years.

David LeRoy Healy, from Taylorsville, has been working with UTA since 1999.  He was assigned to be a fare equipment maintenance technician in 2014, and he had access to fare boxes since then.

“They repair those fare boxes, when they break,” according to UTA Spokesman Carl Arky.

Court documents say Healy took large buckets of coins and cash and funneled it into three personal accounts.  He was reportedly spotted by someone who saw him take bags of coins into his home and he would frequently take large amounts of coins to a store to convert them to cash.  Documents show he told store workers he owned an arcade, which is why he had so many coins.

Arky says, “The UTA became aware of this in the last few weeks, or so.”

The charges state Healy began making the cash deposits the same year he was assigned his new position.  UTA Police reportedly witnessed Healy going into parked buses and removing the fare boxes.

This is the second UTA employee accused of stealing company money within the last month.  Arky says the agency is already looking to make changes to ensure it doesn’t happen again.

“We understand.  This is the public’s money and, also, the public’s trust.  So, we’re not waiting.  These changes are already being made,” he says, adding, “Next week, a risk auditor will be coming in.  This is an outside, independent firm that’s coming in to review our processes and procedures.”