Shoplifting News Nov 9 2009
Lancaster PA
City police on Wednesday arrested three people on retail theft charges in two separate incidents at Park City Center.
A fourth person was cited for retail theft at a downtown retailer.
According to police, Michael E. Rivera, 49, of 607 W. Orange St., tried to steal two queen-sized comforters worth a total of $400 from the JCPenney at Park City.
Store security tried to stop Rivera after he left the lower level of the store and entered the food court, city police Lt. Todd Umstead said. They detained him in the parking lot.
Rivera, who was cited for retail theft, also faces a drug paraphernalia possession charge after he was found with a syringe, Umstead said.
In another incident at Park City Wednesday, police arrested Hanna Amare, 22, of 241 N. Queen St., and Thomas Behailu, 23, of Harrisburg, for trying to steal $188 worth of jewelry from Kohl's.
According to the suspects' arrest warrant affidavit, they removed the jewelry from a display.
Police said Amare wrapped the jewelry in a sweater and handed it to Behailu, who took the sweater and a pair of pants into a changing room.
When he came out of the changing room, police said, all Behailu was carrying was the sweater and the pants. Police said he returned to a display with the pants, where security officials later found the tags for the missing jewelry.
Behailu and Amare were arrested outside the store with the merchandise and charged with retail theft, police said.
In downtown Lancaster, police said James A. Beaty, 52, of 438 E. King St., tried to steal three tubes of Krazy Glue from the Family Dollar at 923 S. Duke St. by concealing them in his waistband.
A clerk who saw Beaty stopped him.
Beaty was cited for retail theft. The total value of the three tubes of Krazy Glue was $6.
HOUSTON TX—It doesn’t matter if you’re a small-business owner, supervisor, retail manager or president of a Fortune 500 company – there’s a good chance you’ll be personally affected by an employee who steals.
Employee theft costs businesses an estimated $52 billion a year, according to some reports, but tracking down the thieves can be tricky.
"A good percentage of the thieves are the most trusted and hard-working employees that a business may have," prosecutor Joni Vollman said.
Take Michael Robin Deese, for example. In September, he was sentenced to 35 years in prison for stealing $1 million from two companies he worked for: John Daugherty Realtors and Lansdown Moody.
Deese took care of the books, apparently without anybody looking over his shoulder. He was writing checks to himself to the tune of $40,000 a pop, prosecutors said.
"It could have gone on forever," Vollman said.
But then Deese went on vacation, and another employee caught on to what he was doing.
Linda Hargrove worked for a doctor in the Medical Center for six years. She was recently arrested after allegedly stealing more than $300,000. The DA’s office said she took checks coming in from patients and insurance companies and deposited them into her own account.
The doctor was considering filing for bankruptcy until Hargrove got caught.
Paul Wade Arnold was in court just last week, charged with stealing more than $200,000 from his employer, the Heights Church of Christ.
Security guard Richard Bostic allegedly falsified his weekly timecard sheets to the tune of 4,966 additional hours. He admitted to "being creative in paying himself additional hours at ABM Security," which resulted in the alleged theft of more than $102,000.
Blanca Grimes is accused of stealing thousands from her employer, Alamo Thrift Bail Bonds. She’s currently out on bond.
Walmart employee Steven Fielder and Kroger employee Tanu Uppal were recently arrested after surveillance cameras caught them stealing more than $3,000 each from cash registers. Both admitted guilt, saying they needed money to pay bills.
The problem for consumers: you're paying higher prices as a result of employee theft. But the good news: thanks to technology, more and more employee thieves are being caught.
During KHOU's investigation, we learned the most common employee theft right now involves false refunds. Some employees are giving refunds to themselves for items they said were returned, but they weren’t.
Others have been caught on tape checking out their friends, but only scanning a couple of the items that left the store.
If you own a business, you’ve been warned.
Walnutport PA
A Walnutport man was arrested Thursday for stealing $427 worth of DVDs from the Target store in Hanover Township, Lehigh County, police said.
The Target at 912 Airport Center Drive also reported that $573 worth of merchandise was stolen last month by an unidentified thief.
Joseph Sasdi, 23, of Walnutport was charged with retail theft for allegedly taking DVDs from the store shelves at 9:55 a.m. Thursday. When Sasdi was confronted by store security as he tried to leave, police said, he got rid of the DVDs and ran.
Sasdi was stopped in the Target parking lot and arrested, state police at Bethlehem said.
Target officials told police that a shoplifter on Oct. 23 took other items, but also dropped the items at the door and ran. Police are investigating that case.
Pemboke MA
An Abington man was charged with larceny after he allegedly attempted to steal two drills from Lowe’s in Pembroke last weekend.
Michael Evans, 28, of Abington pled not guilty on Monday in Plymouth District Court to one charge of larceny over $250.
Police were called to Lowe’s around 5:40 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 31 after a store security guard observed a man start to walk out the door without paying for two drills. The guard reportedly shouted for the man to stop and he dropped the drills and took off running. Police later found him in the woods and brought him back for identification.
Evans was arrested and bailed that night.
Casper WY
A Glenrock woman charged with shoplifting and use of a controlled substance told police Friday she was seven months pregnant and had used crystal meth earlier in the day, according to a police affidavit.
Nicole Marie Durham pleaded not guilty in Natrona County Circuit Court on Monday to using a controlled substance.
Asked by Judge Steven Brown how she wanted to plead to the charge of shoplifting, the 24-year-old said, "guilty."
She faces six months in jail for each of the misdemeanor charges.
Casper police responded late Friday morning to a shoplifting call from Kmart. A security guard told officers Durham had stuffed several items under her jacket and beneath her clothes and attempted to leave the store with them. The guard, after confronting Durham, found two needles inside a pink plastic bag, according to an affidavit.
When questioned by police, Durham admitted to stealing several items, including shampoo, mineral sheers, sunglasses and bras from the store.
Asked about the needles, she started to cry and said they contained methamphetamine, according to police. At that point, she said she was pregnant -- due at the end of December -- and had used meth earlier that morning.
The substances inside the needles were later tested by officers and found to be methamphetamine.
The visibly pregnant Durham told Brown on Monday that she was unemployed and living with her grandparents.
Her bond was set at $250. She remained jailed Monday afternoon.
Marion IN
A shoplifter at Kohl's on McMahan Boulevard ran from sheriff's deputies Friday afternoon but was caught about half an hour later, said Marion County Chief Deputy Al Hayden.
Michael D. Farmer, 31, 555 Silver St., was arrested on charges of petty theft, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.
He ran across U.S. 23 while trying to get away from the deputies.
Farmer was out on parole for domestic violence, assault, ethnic intimidation and having weapons under disability, according to the Ohio Department of Corrections Web site.
Farmer was imprisoned beginning in 2002 and was released in 2008 on parole.
His parole officer was riding with deputies when the theft incident at Kohl's was reported, Hayden said.
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Lancaster PA
City police on Wednesday arrested three people on retail theft charges in two separate incidents at Park City Center.
A fourth person was cited for retail theft at a downtown retailer.
According to police, Michael E. Rivera, 49, of 607 W. Orange St., tried to steal two queen-sized comforters worth a total of $400 from the JCPenney at Park City.
Store security tried to stop Rivera after he left the lower level of the store and entered the food court, city police Lt. Todd Umstead said. They detained him in the parking lot.
Rivera, who was cited for retail theft, also faces a drug paraphernalia possession charge after he was found with a syringe, Umstead said.
In another incident at Park City Wednesday, police arrested Hanna Amare, 22, of 241 N. Queen St., and Thomas Behailu, 23, of Harrisburg, for trying to steal $188 worth of jewelry from Kohl's.
According to the suspects' arrest warrant affidavit, they removed the jewelry from a display.
Police said Amare wrapped the jewelry in a sweater and handed it to Behailu, who took the sweater and a pair of pants into a changing room.
When he came out of the changing room, police said, all Behailu was carrying was the sweater and the pants. Police said he returned to a display with the pants, where security officials later found the tags for the missing jewelry.
Behailu and Amare were arrested outside the store with the merchandise and charged with retail theft, police said.
In downtown Lancaster, police said James A. Beaty, 52, of 438 E. King St., tried to steal three tubes of Krazy Glue from the Family Dollar at 923 S. Duke St. by concealing them in his waistband.
A clerk who saw Beaty stopped him.
Beaty was cited for retail theft. The total value of the three tubes of Krazy Glue was $6.
HOUSTON TX—It doesn’t matter if you’re a small-business owner, supervisor, retail manager or president of a Fortune 500 company – there’s a good chance you’ll be personally affected by an employee who steals.
Employee theft costs businesses an estimated $52 billion a year, according to some reports, but tracking down the thieves can be tricky.
"A good percentage of the thieves are the most trusted and hard-working employees that a business may have," prosecutor Joni Vollman said.
Take Michael Robin Deese, for example. In September, he was sentenced to 35 years in prison for stealing $1 million from two companies he worked for: John Daugherty Realtors and Lansdown Moody.
Deese took care of the books, apparently without anybody looking over his shoulder. He was writing checks to himself to the tune of $40,000 a pop, prosecutors said.
"It could have gone on forever," Vollman said.
But then Deese went on vacation, and another employee caught on to what he was doing.
Linda Hargrove worked for a doctor in the Medical Center for six years. She was recently arrested after allegedly stealing more than $300,000. The DA’s office said she took checks coming in from patients and insurance companies and deposited them into her own account.
The doctor was considering filing for bankruptcy until Hargrove got caught.
Paul Wade Arnold was in court just last week, charged with stealing more than $200,000 from his employer, the Heights Church of Christ.
Security guard Richard Bostic allegedly falsified his weekly timecard sheets to the tune of 4,966 additional hours. He admitted to "being creative in paying himself additional hours at ABM Security," which resulted in the alleged theft of more than $102,000.
Blanca Grimes is accused of stealing thousands from her employer, Alamo Thrift Bail Bonds. She’s currently out on bond.
Walmart employee Steven Fielder and Kroger employee Tanu Uppal were recently arrested after surveillance cameras caught them stealing more than $3,000 each from cash registers. Both admitted guilt, saying they needed money to pay bills.
The problem for consumers: you're paying higher prices as a result of employee theft. But the good news: thanks to technology, more and more employee thieves are being caught.
During KHOU's investigation, we learned the most common employee theft right now involves false refunds. Some employees are giving refunds to themselves for items they said were returned, but they weren’t.
Others have been caught on tape checking out their friends, but only scanning a couple of the items that left the store.
If you own a business, you’ve been warned.
Walnutport PA
A Walnutport man was arrested Thursday for stealing $427 worth of DVDs from the Target store in Hanover Township, Lehigh County, police said.
The Target at 912 Airport Center Drive also reported that $573 worth of merchandise was stolen last month by an unidentified thief.
Joseph Sasdi, 23, of Walnutport was charged with retail theft for allegedly taking DVDs from the store shelves at 9:55 a.m. Thursday. When Sasdi was confronted by store security as he tried to leave, police said, he got rid of the DVDs and ran.
Sasdi was stopped in the Target parking lot and arrested, state police at Bethlehem said.
Target officials told police that a shoplifter on Oct. 23 took other items, but also dropped the items at the door and ran. Police are investigating that case.
Pemboke MA
An Abington man was charged with larceny after he allegedly attempted to steal two drills from Lowe’s in Pembroke last weekend.
Michael Evans, 28, of Abington pled not guilty on Monday in Plymouth District Court to one charge of larceny over $250.
Police were called to Lowe’s around 5:40 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 31 after a store security guard observed a man start to walk out the door without paying for two drills. The guard reportedly shouted for the man to stop and he dropped the drills and took off running. Police later found him in the woods and brought him back for identification.
Evans was arrested and bailed that night.
Casper WY
A Glenrock woman charged with shoplifting and use of a controlled substance told police Friday she was seven months pregnant and had used crystal meth earlier in the day, according to a police affidavit.
Nicole Marie Durham pleaded not guilty in Natrona County Circuit Court on Monday to using a controlled substance.
Asked by Judge Steven Brown how she wanted to plead to the charge of shoplifting, the 24-year-old said, "guilty."
She faces six months in jail for each of the misdemeanor charges.
Casper police responded late Friday morning to a shoplifting call from Kmart. A security guard told officers Durham had stuffed several items under her jacket and beneath her clothes and attempted to leave the store with them. The guard, after confronting Durham, found two needles inside a pink plastic bag, according to an affidavit.
When questioned by police, Durham admitted to stealing several items, including shampoo, mineral sheers, sunglasses and bras from the store.
Asked about the needles, she started to cry and said they contained methamphetamine, according to police. At that point, she said she was pregnant -- due at the end of December -- and had used meth earlier that morning.
The substances inside the needles were later tested by officers and found to be methamphetamine.
The visibly pregnant Durham told Brown on Monday that she was unemployed and living with her grandparents.
Her bond was set at $250. She remained jailed Monday afternoon.
Marion IN
A shoplifter at Kohl's on McMahan Boulevard ran from sheriff's deputies Friday afternoon but was caught about half an hour later, said Marion County Chief Deputy Al Hayden.
Michael D. Farmer, 31, 555 Silver St., was arrested on charges of petty theft, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.
He ran across U.S. 23 while trying to get away from the deputies.
Farmer was out on parole for domestic violence, assault, ethnic intimidation and having weapons under disability, according to the Ohio Department of Corrections Web site.
Farmer was imprisoned beginning in 2002 and was released in 2008 on parole.
His parole officer was riding with deputies when the theft incident at Kohl's was reported, Hayden said.
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