Jailed Detainees Theft Targets

(AP)  A former U.S. Homeland Security employee who faces sentencing this month on embezzlement charges stole money, jewelry and at least $308,000 in cash from immigration detainees at a jail in Michigan, officials say.

Patrick Wynne, 33, of Milan, Mich., was charged last year and accused of carrying out thefts over four years at the Monroe County jail while he worked for the Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement section and its predecessor, the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

The Homeland Security Department plans to spend $158,000 to ship property back to the more than 1,300 immigrants from whom Wynne stole, The Detroit News said.

Stolen property included jewelry, clothing, suitcases, family photos and religious items. The $308,000 was taken from 489 detainees. Two FBI investigators spent months to determine what was taken.

Wynne pleaded guilty July 26 before Detroit U.S. District Judge Julian Cook and faces sentencing Dec. 19. He is to receive up to four years, nine months in prison and a $250,000 fine under a plea agreement with prosecutors, the Detroit Free Press has reported.

"People have a basic cultural expectation that government agents do not steal," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Bruce Judge. Those from whom Wynne stole were "the perfect victims ... and for many, the losses were devastating."

The case came to light after immigrants began complaining when they could not get their property back after they were released from the jail.

Between 2000 and 2004, Wynne worked as a detention enforcement officer and immigration enforcement agent and was the property officer at the jail.