On March 15, a custodian at USC was arrested on suspicion of felony theft. She was suspended from her job and is due to go to court in July. But there could be more to this story than meets the eye.
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Francisca Trigueros has been a custodian at USC for more than two decades, but now, her livelihood is at risk after being arrested over spring break.
On March 10, Trigueros found a lost backpack in the Seeley G. Mudd building. Faculty members say she went to return it to the lost and found, just as she had done in the past with other valuables.
But after not finding any of the lost and found’s staff, Trigueros locked the backpack in the supplies closet.
Faculty in the psychology department, where the backpack was found, say that the bag had “a substantial amount of money” in it. It was reported missing by a student, and five days later, Trigueros was arrested by the LAPD.
After that, she was suspended without pay, and Trigueros now faces a court date on July 12. We reached out to her, but her lawyer has advised her not to make any public comments.
At USC, more than 50 faculty and staff members from the psychology department have gathered in defense of Trigueros. Twyla Ponton is an administrative assistant in psychology and is one of the people Trigueros might have brought the found bag to.
TWYLA PONTON: I’ve had a few times where she’s turned in things that she’s found. It just so happens, this particular time that this bag was misplaced, I was out on vacation, and being so the office, there was no one here to receive it per se.
Some faculty and staff take issue with how Trigueros’ arrest happened. Melissa Reyes, a project assistant in the department, explains.
MELISSA REYES: They sat her down after they had handcuffed her. So nobody really approached her. [...] It went automatically from ‘Oh, we saw security footage of you taking the backpack.’ But did they see security footage of her trying to return the backpack? Nobody said anything.
Psychology lecturer Leslie Berntsen says Trigueros might not have done anything wrong.
LESLIE BERNTSEN: We don’t have that written down anywhere as protocol. But given that the alternative was to leave it in the classroom, which remains unlocked, I can’t fault her judgment.
On Sunday, USC’s psychology department called on the university to open a formal investigation into Trigueros’ arrest. They also want USC to help her get her job back with Aramark, the independent contractor that provides custodians to the school.
Associate psychology professor Darby Saxbe is worried about Trigueros’ future over what might be a misunderstanding.
DARBY SAXBE: The outcome of this has certainly been tremendous for Francisca, in the sense that not only was she suspended without pay for several weeks, but it now looks very likely that she’ll be fired and out of a job that she’s held for 24 years as a 61-year-old woman without significant savings.
Her future at USC remains uncertain.
After her arrest, Trigueros was released from the 77th Street Regional Jail. She is scheduled to go to court on July 12. Her case is being handled by the L.A. Police Department, rather than the university’s Department of Public Safety.