Don't embezzle!

[badger]

Don't rob banks, don't steal from the companies you work for, don't become a burglar!

No, it's not because of the moral high ground, although there's that too. The fact of the matter is that it just isn't worth if for the return on your "investment." With such high-risk, you might as well be investing in Wall Street instead of in theft!

Take for example, this unfortunate older lady:

http://www.tulsaworld.com/articleimages/2012/20120131_betty-kuhn111333111.jpg

First and foremost, she is innocent until proven guilty.

She is accused of taking more than $6,000 over a year's time from Oklahoma Turnpike Authority as a toll booth worker.

Linky (http://www.tulsaworld.com/specialprojects/news/crimewatch/article.aspx?subjectid=450&articleid=20120131_450_0_Aforme441638)

If she's found guilty, she'll not only have lost her job, but also be in jail, paying restitution and have something icky on her permanent record.

In every embezzlement case I've seen, it's always a matter of people not realizing that they were taking so much, because it seemed like they were taking so little. What's $6,000 during a 16-month period? Less than $100 a week.

It reminds me of the girl whose mom let cut school every so often. Basically, she had much older sisters that were around some weekends, so mom would call her in sick so she could enjoy Friday around with an older sister... or just let her cut class on some Fridays. It basically equated out to missing one day every other week, plus actual sick days. Doesn't sound like a lot at the time, but it added up to more than a week missed per semester. The school soon came out with a policy requiring a doctor's note for more than three days missed per semester. Suddenly, she wasn't gone on Fridays as much anymore, hehe. The whole situation was like Ferris Bueller, except not as funny.

[Breadburner]

This happens more than you think....Especially at banks...More often than not its women.......

[olevetonahill]

This happens more than you think....Especially at banks...More often than not its women.......
Bitches Man Bitches

[badger]

This happens more than you think....Especially at banks...More often than not its women.......

It's interesting that you say that... the one who embezzled from my Wisconsin church was a middle-aged woman, and a really notorious case against a Goodwill office in Wisconsin was also a middle-aged-but-oldish woman nearing retirement.

In both cases, gambling was blamed as for the motive to embezzle. Also in both cases, others' trust of the women was blamed in allowing it to go on for such a long period of time.

With the church worker, she knew the bank tellers and would get donation checks that were supposed to be deposited into church accounts cashed instead... then lose the cash at a local bar that ILLEGALLY was paying out to patrons that won jackpots. It was a cycle that lasted years to the tune of more than $100,000... that could be traced. There were likely cash donations also stolen from offering plates. It was an incredibly sad and unfortunate situation. My parents' donation checks were among those stolen.

With the Goodwill worker, she was in accounting and had access to a company checkbook that was supposed to be phased out. Instead, she continued writing checks to herself to reimburse after business trips, or for made up accounts to her husband's business, or for reimbursement to employees that never happened. The paper trail went back years and added up to about $500,000.

[OULenexaman]

that pic was a lady?

[badger]

that pic was a lady?

I based that assumption on the name given, but just provided it in the link, not here, just in case she's someone's dear old auntie that was wrongfully framed for this crime or something.

[Viking Kitten]

Oh how quickly we forget the OSU employee recently accused of using aggy money to buy sex toys.

Link (http://www.stwnewspress.com/local/x1033440554/Former-Oklahoma-State-employee-faces-trial-on-embezzlement-charge)

How humiliating is that? Not the sex toys part. The working for OSU part.

[badger]

Oh how quickly we forget the OSU employee recently accused of using aggy money to buy sex toys.

Link (http://www.stwnewspress.com/local/x1033440554/Former-Oklahoma-State-employee-faces-trial-on-embezzlement-charge)

How humiliating is that? Not the sex toys part. The working for OSU part.

Another middle-aged woman :(

I have only had a few jobs where I've handled money excessively and they were both as cashier. Interestingly enough, it was the job at Toys R Us where they kept closer tabs on our tills than Lowe's, where I was raking in $100s every hour on high ticket on items. A few times at Toys R Us I had less than $10 in sales for an entire hour... and I was only one of two registers open.

I think that I was once suspected of stealing at Toys R Us, because I was fairly new and they must have been missing money or something. My register totals were checked multiple times in only a few weeks and each time, my till perfectly matched what it should have been... except for the time I dropped a dime.

There were only a few cases of employee theft that I had heard about at those two places. One was a guy around my age that was filing things as returned and keeping the cash (yeah I know, a GUY, omg) and a middle-aged woman that was giving herself $20 payday advances, then refunding the $20 to her register after payday. Yeah, they caught on, and yeah, she was let go. Pretty funny that she was paying the register back, though :)

[47straight]

I've found, from my friends running various small-to-mid businesses and probating various estates, that it is actually really hard to pin embezzlement on someone. It happens pretty often. The police and prosecutors are often just lazy, and need something handed to them on a silver platter laid out. And most of the theft is more sophisticated than just taking something from work home.

[8timechamps]

A year or two ago, a middle-aged woman embezzled over 100k from our youth sports association. The association covers a pretty large area (so lots of families contribute funds), and this woman was supposedly a trusted member of the board. She was the treasurer, and had very easy access to funds. This was done over the course of 10+ years, and may have gone unnoticed until she used 20k to buy herself a car.

In the years prior (the investigation discovered), she had set up a small business and used herself as a vendor to the association. The business was obviously just a front, and she returned no goods or services in exchange, but the bulk of her theft came from skimming cash from the concession stand (the stand was at a very large sports park, and did tremendous cash business).

Her husband was never named, and no charges brought against him, but I find it very hard to believe he had no knowledge of her actions.

[olevetonahill]

Dont embezzle Yainch, Just make sure I got beer .

[oudavid1]

Don't rob banks, don't steal from the companies you work for, don't become a burglar!

No, it's not because of the moral high ground, although there's that too. The fact of the matter is that it just isn't worth if for the return on your "investment." With such high-risk, you might as well be investing in Wall Street instead of in theft!

Take for example, this unfortunate older lady:

http://www.tulsaworld.com/articleimages/2012/20120131_betty-kuhn111333111.jpg

First and foremost, she is innocent until proven guilty.

She is accused of taking more than $6,000 over a year's time from Oklahoma Turnpike Authority as a toll booth worker.

Linky (http://www.tulsaworld.com/specialprojects/news/crimewatch/article.aspx?subjectid=450&articleid=20120131_450_0_Aforme441638)

If she's found guilty, she'll not only have lost her job, but also be in jail, paying restitution and have something icky on her permanent record.

In every embezzlement case I've seen, it's always a matter of people not realizing that they were taking so much, because it seemed like they were taking so little. What's $6,000 during a 16-month period? Less than $100 a week.

It reminds me of the girl whose mom let cut school every so often. Basically, she had much older sisters that were around some weekends, so mom would call her in sick so she could enjoy Friday around with an older sister... or just let her cut class on some Fridays. It basically equated out to missing one day every other week, plus actual sick days. Doesn't sound like a lot at the time, but it added up to more than a week missed per semester. The school soon came out with a policy requiring a doctor's note for more than three days missed per semester. Suddenly, she wasn't gone on Fridays as much anymore, hehe. The whole situation was like Ferris Bueller, except not as funny.

I had 87 absences (that is 87 individual class periods, 4 classes a day, I would either miss first 2 or last 2 or whatever) my second semester of Senior year. My mom called in and said all of mine are excused and the lady's in the office were very nice and complied. I had a 4.0 and played a lot of golf and got to work a lot more. I either missed to sleep, go to work, or play golf. Never had a 4.0 before. And I wasnt taking easy classes either. I also lied (sue me) to take my finals early so when other kids were working all semester to earn exemptions(exemptions are when you have an A or B and <4 absences), I just showed up the last week before school let out and took all my finals. School was a big waste of time and i wrote my senior English paper on the need for compulsory education.

[Jacie]

True story of a non-profit institution that discovered about $13,000 missing following an audit. It seemed a woman who collected payments, made deposits and kept the books had been paying herself for years. While the investigation was ongoing, the institution suspended the woman w/o pay. The woman belonged to the union that represented the hourly workers. The union rep raised hell with the institution for taking the action of suspending the woman when nothing had been proven, she had not (nor would she ever be) charged with a crime, etc., etc., etc. It wasn't till a day or so later when someone pointed out that the same woman was the union treasurer (Oops!) and whadda you know? Didn't take the union long to figure out they were missing some funds. So much for going to bat for the double-dipping embezzler. I did say she wasn't charged. The institution in question has a real jones about anything that smacks of negative publicity. In order to keep this quiet, they settled with the woman. The institution agreed not to press charges and even allowed her work record to show that she resigned (as opposed to being fired) if she would repay the money, which she did, the $13k. The woman left the area, her work record intact so presumably she could go elsewhere, find similar employment and fleece someone else, having become more knowledgeable about covering her tracks.

There's a reason people are sent to prison for committing what appears to be a Robin Hood-type crime (individual stealing from a large institution).

[John Kochtoston]

Was she buying them for a horse?

[jumperstop]

Honesty goes a long way, too bad it's hard to find these days. When sweet old ladies are lying about taking money from a company where their coworkers are probably longtime friends, who can you trust?