A former Rapid City police officer has been charged with stealing money the past two months from the high school where he was the School Resource Officer.
41-year old Matthew Hower faces one count of aggregated 2nd-degree petty theft.
The police department says it was told last Friday that money was missing from the petty cash at Central High School. Investigators determined after reviewing surveillance video that Hower was responsible.
He was then fired with the department asking the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation to take the case. The result was the petty theft charge filed by the state attorney general’s office.
Rapid City Police Chief Don Hedrick says that even though the amount of money taken was relatively small, it was still “a violation of trust and in direct contrast to our values and missions.”
Chief Hedrick adds that “these criminal actions are upsetting and troubling, and I never envisioned having to deliver this type of message about an officer.”