Our corporate fraud investigator initiated an employee theft investigation at the request of the Vice President of a local Atlanta retail store chain. The VP stated to that he had discovered information that an Assistant Manager (AM) of one of their metro Atlanta stores may be involved in internal theft and the destruction and of $305 in merchandise.

To gather additional information and investigative leads our corporate fraud investigator interviewed another Assistant Manager. She stated that she had observed the fellow AM give away merchandise to hourly employees. She also stated that she had observed him steal and consume candy offered for sale by the store. She had not considered this to be internal theft.

Another informational interview was conducted with an Hourly Employee. He stated that he had been given store merchandise by the AM to take home without payment. He also stated that he and other associates had been directed by the AM to throw away merchandise that the AM said were discontinued. He also said the volume of merchandise filled the dumpster. In addition he said that on another occasion after a customer complaint situation that the AM directed him to lie to the District Manager.

An interview was conducted by our corporate fraud investigator with the AM. During the interview he admitted to the theft of $300 in merchandise, $1800 in cash and the destruction and give away of $12,000 in merchandise. He stated that he stole merchandise for his own use and that he routinely consumed candy without payment. His last employee theft was the day before his interview.   He said that he stole cash via fraudulent refunds, post voids and by taking overages from the POS. He could not give a reason for his internal theft.

The AM also stated that he destroyed merchandise to clean up the store rather than going through the markdown procedure. He estimates that he discarded approximately 480 items valued at $25 each over several weeks.

All information and investigative facts developed during this employee theft investigation were turned over to the Vice President. The AM was terminated and criminal charges were filed with a local Atlanta police department.

To stop employee theft you must have systems in place to catch even small discrepancies. Don’t ignore this information.  The information about a small issue may lead to a much larger loss, which is typical in employee theft investigations.

In Atlanta contact us about corporate fraud investigator or call 1.770.426.0547