Employee theft

[cbg]

I will, and always have, taken your word that you feel badly about it. I don't think anyone's answer was predicated on whether or not you regret your crime.

Whether you intended it or not, however, one thing came through loud and clear in your posts. That was a desperate attempt at a response that guaranteed that you would not need to take any responsibility for your actions. Evidently you don't feel badly enough to accept the consequenses of what you did.

The facts are these. We don't know and can't guess how much evidence your employer has against you or if they plan to take any action. One of three things can happen: (a) they can let the entire matter drop; (b) they can call you up and say, "We've discovered the theft but if you make restitution we'll forget the whole thing" or (c) they can contact the police and say that there's been a theft and they have reason to believe that you are involved. They do NOT legally have to have the kind of proof they would need in a court of law to do this.

If (c) occurs, one of three things can happen: (1) upon investigation the case will be dropped for lack of evidence as to who is responsible (2) they can arrest you for the theft but have the charged dropped due to lack of evidence that YOU were responsible, or (3) you can end up with a criminal record. What degree of charge a $200 theft comes to is something that I believe is state-determined.

Since no one here has a crystal ball, no one can tell you what will happen. I can tell you, though, as I did before, that you CAN be charged if your employer wants to go that way and if enough evidence exists. Denying it might seem to solve your problem, but that's not a guaranteed way out. Deny it in the wrong place, say on the witness stand, and it can lead to a charge of perjury.

You also might want to remember that when it comes to references, an employer can say anything that is true or their honest opinion, including, "After he resigned we discovered a theft and we have reason to believe he was involved".

I still think that your best bet is to confess what you did and offer to make restitution. But you've made it pretty clear that you don't want any advice that might mean you had to accept any responsibility.

 

[Lalo_X]

How long?

If they were to press charges and they did call the cops, how long would it be b4 the cops would come and talk to me? Would it be immediately or weeks later? I just don't want to put this behind me just to find out it's being brought up again. I don't think my former employer will do anything, but you can never be too sure. The lack of evidence is apparent since noone saw me take anything in OR anything out and there are no video cameras. The only thing that they can do is do an audit and determine the items are missing. Since i am not the only one who had access to the items in question, the police would have to question not only me but 3 others as well. Things actually started disappearing b4 i left, but that wasn't me(though i was asked if i was doing it). Some of my friends have told me that if they were going to do something that they would have already done it, but i am not so sure. As for the restitution, I would rather not do that because not only would they know that i did it, but they would then have evidence. I would rather just learn my lession and move on and try to put this whole thing behind me.

 

[cbg]

This will be my last post on this thread.

How long it takes for the police to contact you, if they're going to, will depend upon how long it takes for the employer to discover the theft and decide what they're going to do about it. No one here has a crystal ball; no one here can answer this question.

Every post you make just emphasizes the fact that you are not particularly upset about what you did, although as I said I accept your word that you do feel badly. However, it is painfully clear that what you are most concerned about is getting away scott-free. Despite the fact that you admit the theft, your posts are coming down heavily on the fact that no one saw you do it and no one can prove it was you since there were other people with access. Therefore, you clearly believe, no one should take you to task for it.

Well, tough ****. If you really felt badly about it, you'd be more concerned with making amends than you would about escaping responsibility. I have little sympathy and no respect for someone who whines about how badly they feel but are only concerned about making sure they don't have to pay the consequences for their act.

Assuming your employers drop this, when it becomes obvious that the only action your employer is going take is giving an honest reference, don't come crying to me that your employer is saying bad things about you. You earned the bad reference, you deserve it, and the fact that you don't believe anyone can prove you are a thief - which you are - is not going to make it go away. If you can't get another job because your former employer is telling prospective employees that they discovered a theft which they strongly suspect you were involved it, that will be the truth, that will be legal, and you will have no one to blame but yourself.

 

[Lalo_X]

ok...

Ok the charity bit is just not going to happen, As for good employees do not screw over good employers, this guy was not a good employer and as for mike101's message. ALL OF US have been in it at one time or another so if anything, that does not eliminate any of us.

 

[Lalo_X]

one more thing...

I am not going to make amends so we can just through this out the window. I felt bad for what i did yes, but i am not going to just go back and hand them back the items and practically give them evidence against me. I doubt that they would have mercy anyway and if they have any doubts against me at that time then those doubts would most likely be confirmed.

 

[Mike101]

You can have a hundred people who have been in it at one time or another. You are only going to have one person who was in it before you and only one person who was in it after you. Find those people and you become a part of the system. I have investigated cases such as this where I did not get warrants for quite a while. So don't get too secure in a certain amount of time passing and you not hearing anything. The knock at the door usually comes sooner but sometimes its later.

 

[Lalo_X]

ok

i see what you are saying, but it's like this, that is true and yea i would be a suspect but so would everybody else for the simple fact that this could have been done over a gradual period of time. They have to prove that and i do not even have the items anymore anyway. I spoke with a attorney(friend of mine) and they told me since i didn't have the stuff, to just deny the accusations, since there are no cameras in the store and since noone saw me take anything out, there has to either be an eyewitness or they have to find the items on me right? Anything after that is merely circumstantial evidence.

 

[Mike101]

Do you know for a fact that nobody saw you? Maybe the right person hasn't been asked about it yet? If you no longer possess the items does that mean someone else has them? If someone else has them that means somebody else knows. You have also talked to other people about this. So they know. When that starts happening it usually means that a few people know and you are not aware that they know. People get convicted on circumstantial evidence all the time.

 

[Lalo_X]

so what you are saying...

is that if i don't have the items and noone says anything and lets just say that noone saw me that i could still go to jail?

 

[Mike101]

Nope. What I'm saying is that someone that you don't know about may know something. If the person who was there before you took the items remembers a certain item was there and the person after you took the items remembers them being gone that would be circumstantial. Somebody always sees something in situations like this.

 

[Lalo_X]

good point

however, everything i took there were more than 2-3 things of and there are so many of them that unless it was the last one, you would not know by looking.

 

[Mike101]

Someone is always looking. I have also been in many stores where the employees were not aware that the store had cameras. I have done interviews before where I advise the subject it was all recorded and they don't believe me. They are quite surpeised when the tape is produced. Cameras have come a long way. And have become very small.