CLEVELAND, Ohio -- When a Standard Parking executive attended a sporting event in downtown Cleveland one night, he noticed the garage his company manages for the city was busy and full.

But the next morning, the activity report he received from the garage manager showed many empty spaces. What gives? A lot.

For more than a year, between 2008 and 2009, managers, cashiers and gatekeepers at two of downtown's busiest garages conspired to steal nearly $160,000 of parking money, according Assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Kysha Harris.

Twenty employees, ranging in age from 21 to 66, were in on the scheme with managers allowing workers to take money from cars that they waved through without recording, according to the indictment returned last week. The employees split the profits at the end of the night, Harris said.

The electronic gate machines at Gateway East and North garages, located near The Q and Progressive Field, would be deactivated on special event nights, Harris said.

Managers would then turn in an activity report for the night that only showed a portion of the vehicles that actually parked in the lot.

When that Standard Parking executive received the inaccurate report, the company launched an internal audit.



"We have a zero tolerance policy and went to the authorities to report it and press charges," said Standard Parking Spokesman Mike Wolf.

Standard Parking, which operates 2,200 garages nationwide, has an in-house audit division that reviewed the activity and receipts for the garages at 650 Huron Road and 2151 Ontario Road. Wolf declined to provide details on how the audit process works in order to protect their clients.

"The good news is our system worked, we found it and we reported it," Wolf said. "The clients were protected."

Standard Parking, which manages the garages for the city of Cleveland, immediately paid the city any lost compensation, according to a city spokeswoman.

The 20 defendants in the case were arraigned for felony theft Thursday. If they are convicted, they face one to five years in prison.