The Bunker Blog

Unless they are caught the first time, a thief will not stop at once. Some even consider it an addiction. Employees who steal, and are not caught the first time, will continue to steal.

Here’s a little warning:

If you steal, you will eventually be caught. And when you are, there will be a trail of evidence against you that will be uncovered and then used to prosecute you.

It has always been fascinating to me to watch someone steal. They think nobody is watching. They believe they are “getting away with it“. Big mistake, but it sure works in favor of the good guys.

Another fascinating thing to me is the comfort level with which some people steal. You can always tell about how long they have been at it by watching the level of comfort they have while stealing. The more nervous they appear, the less experience they have.

Here’s a recent story about an employee who got caught after a period of time.

A Columbus J.C. Penney employee is facing felony embezzlement charges.
Following an internal store investigation on loss prevention, which began in October, local police arrested Crystal McCullum, 25, of 417 Winterset Drive Friday and charged her with felony embezzlement.
The amount was undisclosed.
“If you’re a cashier and you take a little last week and a bit today and a little next weekend, you can group it all together with one embezzlement charge. So we’re not sure of what the talley is yet because they’re still adding it up,” explained Columbus Police Department Sgt. Rick Jones.

Commercial Dispatch Online

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Over a 4 year period, this lady took $1.5 Million from her employer. She is 69 years old, and has worked for the company for 44 years!!

Of course, I don’t know the specifics; but, I can say with some degree of confidence that there was a breakdown of some kind at this company to allow an employee to get out with over a million dollars in cash.

I know this because the largest case I ever worked was an $80,000.00 internal case where a trusted manager was pushing merchandise out the back door to an accomplice, who was loading it up and taking it out to sell. $80,000.00 was what he admitted to stealing. In fact, we estimated after the investigation was completed that the damage was closer to $170,000.00. That puts a big knot in the pit of your stomach. This guy went to prison, but we were still out $170,000.00 with no way to recover it. He had no assets, but the court did order him to make payments after he gets out of prison.

What was the breakdown? Well, he had keys, an alarm code, and he was alone in the building for part of the morning. That was when he would do his dirty work.

Our company changed some basic policies after this case. Alarm panels were coded to tell us who was using the pads and when. Certain doors were set up to require a manual bypass of the alarms in order to open them. No managers or employees are permitted to be in a building alone at any time, for starters.

We already had double verification of all cash, including the safe, etc.

It just goes to show that even the most loyal, trusted employee, given the right motivation or set of circumstances, can do major damage to your business.

“In God We Trust, Everyone Else, We Interview”

A long-time employee of a Keene toy company has pleaded guilty to stealing 1.5 million dollars from the company over several years.

Sixty-nine-year-old Anne Everett of Candia admitted to two theft charges alleging that she stole the money between January 2003 and last December, when she was controller for Douglas Cuddle Toys. She worked for the company for 44 years.

Prosecutors are asking for sentences of seven to 14 years on each of the theft charges.

Everett’s lawyer, Michael Shklar, says that would amount to a life sentence for Everett, who suffers from cancer. He’s requested a psychological evaluation before sentencing, which is scheduled for next month.

Seacoastonline.com: Toy company worker accused of stealing $1.5 million

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