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Park Manager Charged With Theft

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By JOSH POLTILOVE

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 8, 2008

TAMPA - TAMPA - An Adventure Island manager has embezzled more than $113,000 from the company since May 2007, police said.

Officers arrested Stephen Andrew Boucher at the water park about 4 p.m. Sunday.

A Tampa police detective working off-duty was told Boucher was stealing money from cash registers. The detective worked with Busch Gardens' loss prevention investigators, using security surveillance to watch Boucher.

While Boucher was being watched, he stole $1,500 from three different registers, a police report states.

Boucher, 28, "also agreed to relinquish a quantity of the stolen money that he had hidden within his residence," the report states. He was taken to his home, where detectives recovered $6,217.

Boucher was charged with scheming to defraud and grand theft of $100,000 or more.

Police said that Boucher voided cash sales and removed the cash amount.

His actions "represented a systematic, on-going course of conduct," a criminal arrest affidavit states.

Boucher has been a supervisor of operations at Adventure Island since June 2007 and has been employed by the park since February 2003, according to Busch Gardens spokeswoman Jill Revelle.

He has been suspended.

"Busch Entertainment Corporation has zero tolerance for theft and takes these matters very seriously," Revelle wrote in an e-mail to the Tribune.

"We are working closely with the Tampa Police Department to help them determine the circumstances of this situation."

She would not elaborate.

Boucher was released from jail Sunday night on $30,000 bail.

Reporter Josh Poltilove can be reached at (813) 259-7691 or jpoltilove@tampatrib.com.

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