• FreeAdvice has a new Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, effective May 25, 2018.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our Terms of Service and use of cookies.

Employee theft

Accident - Bankruptcy - Criminal Law / DUI - Business - Consumer - Employment - Family - Immigration - Real Estate - Tax - Traffic - Wills   Please click a topic or scroll down for more.

L

Lalo_X

Guest
What is the name of your state? TX

I must confess i was working at a retail store and i took some merchandise. I now feel bad about it. The store has no cameras and me and three others have the keys to the cabinets where i took the stuff. Right now, noone knows that i did it. I also quit my job today because i have been having problems with the manager for the past week. He had been giving me problems and i got fed up with it. Since i have quit, he won't have time to do the audit report, however, when he does, that is when i am worried. I did the last audit report on our mechandise a week ago and it was correct. My question is since i have left and since the audit report was over a week ago AND since 3 others have the keys to the cabinet with the merchandise in it, can i possibly be in trouble? Can my former employer do anything to me? And if so, what are my rights?
 


G

gooberitiz

Guest
you have things backwards.......

you will get blamed if you quit.

you always blame the person who quits a job for theft.

Thats the way things work in real life, if one the other 3 quit that person would get blamed for the shortage...you just made it EASY for them to point to you as the guilty party.
 

cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
If they discover the theft, yes, you can be in trouble. Resigning does not excuse you from the consequences of your actions. Your rights are the same as anyone else's who is guilty of stealing - i.e., the right to an attorney, etc.

If your question is, since others also had access and presumably it cannot be proved conclusively on that alone that you are guilty, does that get you off the hook, the answer is NO.
 
L

Lalo_X

Guest
What can happen?

well, all my friends have told me the same thing that yes i would probably be blamed, HOWEVER, they also said that the employer has to actually see me take the stuff out of the store. They said that doing a audit report a week later is not good enough and that they have to prove that it was theft and not just simple neglect i.e. me going into the back for something with no floor coverage. How hard/ easy would it be for them to take me to court. The amount of the items was only $200. Do most companies take people to court over this? I honestly regret taking the stuff now and i would give it back if i could. If they did suspect me what would happen? Would they send the cops to my house with a search warrant? The merchandise is no longer in my possession. I just would like to know what would happen if i got caught and what they COULD do to catch me and would they have a case? My friends also told me that they actually have to catch the merchandise on me to take me to jail. I'm honestly scared and i don't know what to do. I would just like to prepare for the worst, however since i don't know what it is, that only makes me worry more. If i could take all this back, i would.... BTW cbg, how does it not get me off the hook if they cannot prove that i did it?
 

Beth3

Senior Member
Beware of friends who think they know something about the law. There are three separate issues here:

1. Your employment. Your employer has every right to terminate you based on suspicion of theft. (An accurate suspicion.) They do not need proof.

2. Criminal charges. Your employer may contact the police and file criminal charges if they wish to. The police will investigate and then turn the matter over to the district attorney who will decide whether you should be criminally prosecuted. If found guilty, the court may impose whatever sentance the law provides for the type of crime you are convicted of. That could be anything from probation and restitution to jail time.

3. A civil suit. The employer may file a civil suit against you to pursue you for the damages they believe you have caused them. If found liable, you would be responsible for restitution and quite possibly the employer's legal expenses and court costs.

Now whether the employer will pursue options 2 and 3, I can't predict. Obviously, if they do so, proof sufficient to demonstrate beyond a "reasonable doubt" that you are guilty would be required in court.
 
L

Lalo_X

Guest
reasonable doubt

i guess based on what i have said is it posible that there is more than a reasonable doubt? Besides an audit report that has done a week ago they can say hey that guy(me) did it but we never saw him take it out of the store and more than just him have access to the items. I guess i am not so worried if there is reasonable doubt since the case will probably get thrown out. I thought about going back there (to throw off any doubts people might have), besides if i did i know that if they knew something more likely they would try to tell me something and i could just deny it. What do you think. What are the chances of me going to jail over this? They never saw me take anything, and once again, i am not the only one that has access to this stuff. My friends told me that if i deny it since they did not see me that they could not prove it and that is my best defense. I would just like to know what my chances are i guess of me getting caught for this. I do know one thing, i will never do this kind of thing ever again.
 
Last edited:

Beth3

Senior Member
I am not going to try to evalulate the merits of the employer's case against you. I have no idea what evidence they have of your guilt nor what they plan to do about it.

Personally, what I think you should do is go to the employer, admit what items you stole, and make voluntary restitution. Despite your protests of wishing you could take it all back, you're only concerned about getting away with your thievery, not making the situation right. If you're sweating bullets, good. You should be.
 
G

gooberitiz

Guest
I guess NOW you know when the best time to quit a job is:

AFTER they blame the last guy who quit for the theft!

And you cannot steal stuff if there is a regular inventory going on, you need to take stuff they wont notice for 3 months or more.

I hate to see people get caught for stealing stuff from their employer, becuase 99% of the time no one would even think of stealing if the employer was a good, decent, humane place to work!
 

Beth3

Senior Member
goob, I sincerely pity any employer who had the misfortune to offer you a job. But then as I recall, you've made a career out of getting yourself fired and living off UC. How proud you must be. :rolleyes:

You've said a lot of stupid stuff and these comments are right up there.
 
L

Lalo_X

Guest
Well, i was worried...

so i went to talk to a attorney at a local university. They asked me if anyone saw me and i told them no and that they did not have cameras which was fine. They just told me to deny it and unless they can catch it on me, then they cannot do anything to me. The only bad thing is that i went near the place i used to work (i ran into a friend across the street from the store) and one of the employee's old lady was in there and she just kept staring at me through the window. Then when i left she started following me almost like she was going to her car but then almost not. Very wierd. As for goob, hey buddy thanks for the support. I realize that i did wrong,BUT there are other people that are just too quick to judge.
 
G

gooberitiz

Guest
So what?

The EMPLOYER gets a tax break for theft....

Instead of paying Higher WAGES, and benefits, lots of employers just look the other way of minor theft, hell even the boss would steal and write if off as abusiness expense.

I stand by my statement, if you work with honest, decent, moral bosses you would be an idoit to take anything and risk getting caught. Becuase good employers are getting harder to find every day!
 

cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
Oh, please Goob. Grow up.

I'm not making any judgements on our poster, because he didn't say what he took or why, but there are people out there who steal just because they want something and see an easy way to get it. If they're willing to steal to begin with, they aren't going to be put off by the supposed or real high moral character of whoever actually owns it, whether it's an employer or someone else.
 
L

Lalo_X

Guest
the reason...

the reason why i took what i took is because i was promised an item from the store for winning a contest. I was then told i would be disciplined since i was late to work one day. The contest states that you cannot have no write ups and it was almost over. I never saw the write up, never signed anything and the manager said that it would not be a problem and i should still get my prize. A couple of days later he tells me that it IS a problem and that i could not recieve it. I still never saw a write up and never signed anything. Instead they gave my item to someone else. It was valued at $200 and that is exactly how much i took. As for the judgement issue i only said that because at the time i did not think this was wrong, but i now know better. Its just that i do not want anyone to think that i do not regret my actions because i do.
 
M

Mike101

Guest
I have worked enough employee theft cases. I have also put in a lot of time on these cases. In employer/employee situations I have found it do be that if you get the timeline down you can usually find the person. An audit done a week later might be bad for the store and case. Maybe though right after you took the items the employee who had a key and worked after you went into the same cabinet and will remember the items were not there. Or the number that should have been there was different from the number of items that were. Right there that knocks the number of employees in half. Get the employee who was in the cabinet before you saying the items were there and the one after you saying the items weren't there and I would feel comfortable filing charges against you.
If this happened in my city and I got the case I think you would be getting a knock at your door and find me holding papers in my hand for you.
 

Find the Right Lawyer for Your Legal Issue!

Fast, Free, and Confidential
data-ad-format="auto">
Top