WCTV reported on a Tallahassee couple accused of attempting to steal nearly three quarters of a million dollars from the state’s unclaimed property vault. The heavily guarded vault is located in Tallahassee and contains millions in jewels, watches, coins and currency.

Thomas Penquite and Maria Gutierrez are being accused of trying to claim more than $733,000 from accounts that were not their own.

Department of Financial Services was able to stop the couple from leaving the building with any property. Officials were tipped off when the duo re-activated three corporations that had been defunct to make claims.

Pam Doffek, Director of the Goldstein Library in the School of Information, was asked about the public availability of  corporate documents online. Doffek easily found that all documents were easy to find.  The mentioned documents were still there and had Gutierrez’s name on them.

Doffek told WCTV, “The public records were right there,” she said. “Paperwork looked good, whether it was legal or illegal, whether they were fraudulent or not fraudulent.”

Doffek has contributed as a source to WCTV articles for years and said the open access records allowed her to help in this situation.