Peace officers accused of stealing hair-removal products from homeless shelter
Three employees of a Brooklyn homeless shelter have been accused of stealing nine boxes of hair remover and seven boxes of hair-removal shower gel. Peace Officers Pradeep Roy, Donna Valentine and Sequoya Zimmerman are accused of taking the items from the Tillary Street Women’s Shelter in Downtown Brooklyn on Sept. 9, according to the New York Post.
A fourth person, who was not identified, has disappeared and has not shown up for work, according to the Department of Homeless Services. The shelter’s residents suffer from mental illness and chemical addiction, the Post reported. The theft came to light when Warren Wright, the shelter’s program director, saw the officers on surveillance video taking the items from a storage room and stashing them in a garbage bag. One of the officers, who spoke to the Post on condition of anonymity, says items that are donated to the shelter are often thrown away and that the residents couldn’t have used these products anyway because they are flammable.
But a department spokesperson said they were specifically purchased for the shelter’s residents so they wouldn’t have to use razors.
