E/TX Zoo Employee Admited to Theft

ANGELINA COUNTY � An Ellen Trout Zoo gift shop employee has been arrested after admitting to embezzling more than $14,000. On August 8, gift shop employee Rita Cambiano, 53, went to Ellen Trout Zoo director Gorden Henley and admitted she had not been making the daily deposits, according to an arrest report. She told him she had instead been keeping the money and presented him with the deposit slip receipts totaling $14,150.

Henley took the matter to the zoo board, which decided to fire Cambiano and pursue legal action. Cambiano provided investigators a written statement admitting to the crime. Cambiano booked out of the Angelina County Jail Tuesday on a $2,500 bond. If convicted, she faces up to two years in state jail. According to county records, Cambiano spent one year on probation in 2004 for Class A misdemeanor theft of property stemming from an August 2002 incident.