By Allison Klein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, June 19, 2009

The white-haired parking meter repairman who, little by little, stole more than $100,000 in coins from meters in Alexandria pleaded guilty today to two counts of embezzling public funds and faces a maximum of 40 years in prison.

Police arrested William J. Fell, 61, in April, and when they searched his house they discovered about $100,000 in paper money and $7,100 in nickels, dimes and quarters stashed in rolls, a bucket and a silver cup.

Fell's attorney, Greg English, said that for more than a year, Fell would ferry the coins home and exchange them for bills at a supermarket near his home in Stafford County.

"What else do you do with it?" English said after the hearing in Alexandria Circuit Court. "You can't put it in your checking account."

English added that "this is a case of a good person who lived a blameless life, who did something incredibly stupid."

Fell, who has no prior criminal record, will be sentenced July 23. As part of his plea deal, he has agreed to pay $100,000 in restitution and forfeit a 2001 Nissan pickup and a 1999 GMC truck.

Prosecutor David Lord said Fell was spending lavishly and had recently paid more than $22,000 toward a line of credit for improvements to his home.

Fell, who is divorced and lived alone, worked for the city for 16 years before his promotion a year ago. He has been in jail since his arrest.

According to court documents, Fell would get to work before his shift started at 4 a.m. and work under the cover of darkness, emptying meter coin boxes into a bag and stashing them in his car. Then he would then go about his normal workday fixing meters.

Fell was caught when a supervisor in the Department of Transportation and Environmental Services became suspicious because collection revenue was dropping.

Additionally, an employee had told the supervisor that some meters were empty when he opened them for collection.

"It is very unusual for any meter to be completely empty when collection is attempted," Lord said.

Last year, the city took in more than $1 million in revenue from its 1,040 parking meters, officials said. Officials had raised the rates to $1 an hour but weren't getting as much money as they expected.

The supervisor followed Fell early one morning, hid in the 1600 block of Prince Street and watched Fell steal coins. Police then installed a video camera in Fell's city truck to record the crime, Lord said.

From Jan. 22 to March 16, Fell was recorded on his early morning route as he took bags and bags of coins. On 10 separate days, he was recorded emptying one to 24 canisters a day, with each full canister containing about $80.

A city auditor examined the case and estimated that $100,000 in losses is a conservative estimate.

"The exact amount stolen cannot be determined," Lord said.

Fell maintains that he only stole about $30,000, according to prosecutors.

"Since the defendant's arrest, parking meter revenue is sharply up," Lord said.

Police were perplexed after they subpoenaed Fell's bank accounts but did not see any of the money there. That was when they decided that it might be in his home and executed a search warrant.

In his home, in addition to the money, police found keys to parking meter canisters, parking meter heads, computer printouts of meter revenues and foreign coins they believe were taken from parking meters.