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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