An internal analysis found the investigation into Bethany Storro’s claim she was the target of a random acid attack on Aug. 30 cost the Vancouver Police Department at least $12,000 in employee hours, phone bills and other expenses.
“That would not include expenses that haven’t come in,” said Kim Kapp, a police spokeswoman, who added investigators are likely to spend the next few weeks trying to track down contributors to the more than $25,000 donated to Storro.
The department’s detectives are salaried employees, Kapp said, explaining the estimate reflects the higher-than-usual number of hours devoted to the case.
She said some “overtime was accrued.”
For the most part, though, “We’ve all had to look at prioritizing our schedules to devote time to all our tasks,” Kapp said.
Storro was charged Monday with three counts of second-degree theft by deception, which stemmed from three donations of more than $750. She could face additional charges, including false reporting to public officials.
Storro has not yet been arrested in response to the warrant issued Monday. When the charges were filed, Clark County Deputy Prosecutor Tony Golik said she was in an unspecified hospital, for unknown reasons.
Even so, the investigation continues.
Investigators are trying to trace contributions back to the benefactors who gave them.
“Cash donations and those types of other situations, where a store may have done a bulk deposit, are complex to deal with,” Kapp said. “They came from all over.”
Restitution of the police expenses, Kapp said, would be decided during the course of litigating Storro’s alleged crimes.
“It’s pretty typical on a major investigation for us to track costs,” she added.
